The point here is that, according to the program, the Russian accident investigator maintained that there is more than 1 reason in every accident. In this case, the thing which strikes me was the discovery that the Autopilot on A310's is partially disconnected (some control surfaces) if you "fight" against it for more than 30 seconds-
Well, not sure about the A310, but with every other type I have experienced, the autopilot disconnect is immediate once breakout force is exceeded - ie, give the controls a good heave, and the autopilot will be disconnected. It's something we used to test on the 737s in the hangar with a good old fashioned fishing spring balance!