Russian prosecutors today charged four soldiers with stealing bank cards from the site of a plane crash that killed Poland's president and 95 other people.
The move by the Investigative Committee of the Russian prosecutor general's office were the first official Russian acknowledgment that soldiers were suspected of theft from the site of the April 10th crash in western Russia.
Four conscript soldiers who were at the crash site have been charged with theft, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said in televised remarks. He said a total of 60,345 roubles (€1,590) had been stolen with the cards.
"All four accused have admitted what they did and are actively cooperating with the investigation," he said.
Three of the accused had criminal records - one for robbery, one for theft and one for counterfeiting, the Investigative Committee said in a statement. It said they were charged today.
Russia's defence ministry said it would apologise for the theft - likely to further damage Russia's image in the eyes of Poles wary of a country that long dominated theirs - and pay back the stolen money if the soldiers are found guilty.
"As soon as the suspected servicemen are found guilty and held responsible by a court, the Defence Ministry will make an apology and will be ready to immediately compensate the stolen funds," spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov said, according to Itar-Tass.
Polish officials had said yesterday that they were told the suspects had been detained, but the Investigative Committee said they were being kept under close watch - apparently not behind bars - at their military unit. It was not immediately clear whether the filing of charges would change that.
Polish prosecutors have been investigating the theft of two credit cards that belonged to Andrzej Przewoznik, a historian who died in the crash.
The crash coincided with efforts to dispel tension between Slavic neighbours Poland and Russia over perceived historical wrongs and other issues.
The plane was carrying President Lech Kaczynski and many other senior Polish officials to a ceremony marking a 1940 massacre of Poles by Soviet government agents that still strains the two countries' relations.
Reuters