Moscow expresses dissatisfaction about Ukraine being absolved of any blame in the case of MH17 air disaster
Moscow expressed dissatisfaction that the Netherlands “took blame off Kyiv for not closing off the air space over the combat area" in the South-East of Ukraine in 2014, where the Malaysian Boeing MH17 crashed. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the action as “blatant” in a statement it published on Tuesday, July 17 on the Ministry’s website.
The Ministry called the conclusions of the joint investigation team on the MH17 case "unsubstantiated accusations." The Foreign Ministry noted that the Netherlands did not allow the Russian Federation to work with the investigation team but granted that right to Ukraine.
In that light, Amsterdam and Kyiv "showed their unpreparedness to continue full and constructive cooperation in the МН17 case and showed no interest in conducting a comprehensive, objective and independent international investigation,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.
"Kyiv gets away with not providing such important information as radio-location station data, information on the location and activities of Ukrainian air defense or records of conversations of Ukrainian operators,” the statement reads.
In May 2018, the joint investigation team summed up the first results of the investigation of the accident. According to the investigators’ conclusions, the Boeing aircraft was shot down with a Russian BUK anti-aircraft missile system that was delivered to the south-east of Ukraine from the 53rdAnti-aircraft Missile Brigade near Kursk.
Later, the Netherlands found Ukraine not guilty of the crash of the Malaysian Boeing in the Donbas. At the end of June, EU countries called on Russia to acknowledge responsibility for the crash of MH17.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation denied this information saying that the conclusions were based on photos from social networks. Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the Kremlin will not recognize the results of the investigation because they were made without the participation of Russian representatives.