Some rather important elements were cut from the Russion original:
I do not wish to clutter the therad with a complete transcript, google translator works surprisingly well:
Google Translate
A couple of important pieces of information:
- Communication was in Russian.
- The legal minimum was 1000m horizontal visibility for the approach (we still don't know what kind it was)
- Actual visibility was ~400m
- Pilot was advised of conditions, and a diversion was suggested (emphasis mine)
- Pilot decided to try an approach (we still don't know how many), with the known outcome
One source of misunderstanding may be various (mis) translations of the russian phrase used to convey the instructions of ATC as instructed / ordered / suggested. In Russia up till very recently the word of ATC was an order, pilot had no discretion. While this changed, old habits still linger(see my post above, or think of Überlingen), until we see the CVR and ATC transcripts, it is hard to assess what was really conveyed. The power distance can work both ways - it is possible that the local controller did not feel confident enough to give an explicit instruction to the 'commander' of a presidential aircraft, no matter how inappropriate his actions appeared.
By the way, the composition of the investigation comission makes for an interesting read:
Google Translate