The Netherlands and Australia accused Russia of the collapse of Boeing near Donetsk

The Netherlands and Australia accused Russia of involvement in the collapse of the Malaysian Boeing (MH17) near Donetsk in 2014. The countries intend to hold Russia accountable as a state and demand compensation.
25.05.2018
Vedomosti
Origin source
The Netherlands today officially announced that they consider Russia as a state implicated in the collapse of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 in eastern Ukraine in June 2017, Reuters reports a government statement. This position is shared by Australia. The next step of the Netherlands and Australia may be to appeal to an international court.

"Based on the findings of the Joint Investigative Group (JIT), the Netherlands and Australia have come to believe that Russia is responsible for deploying the Buk missile launcher that shot down the MH17 flight," the statement said. The cabinet meeting at which it was adopted was held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, who specially returned for this from abroad.

"Judicial proceedings at the state level are a complicated legal process, and for this there are several possibilities. The Netherlands and Australia today asked Russia to engage in a dialogue to come to a decision to compensate for the enormous suffering and damage that the MH17 wreck caused. The possible next step is the transfer of the case to an international court or other organization, "the Dutch authorities said in a statement.

"We call on Russia to recognize its responsibility and cooperate fully with the investigation to establish truth and justice in the interests of the victims of MH17," said Foreign Minister Stef Bloch.

Ukraine will join the persecution of the Netherlands and Australia, President Petro Poroshenko said. "I instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to immediately make proposals on the possibility of joining the process initiated by the Netherlands and Australia," the president said on Facebook.

 Boeing 777 "Malaysian Airlines", followed by MH17 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed on July 17, 2014 in the sky over the southeast of Ukraine. On board the liner were 283 passengers and 15 crew members, all of them were killed.

The day before, JIT announced that the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, from which a passenger airliner was shot down, belonged to the 53rd anti-aircraft brigade of the Russian Armed Forces from Kursk. After analyzing the photos and video from the Internet, the investigators restored the way of the military convoy, in which the Buk was transported, and came to the conclusion that the missile system was delivered to Ukraine from Russia and then taken back. Dozens of people are directly involved in this operation, but their names are not disclosed in the interests of the investigation, JIT reported.

The Russian side rejected these accusations. The Ministry of Defense of Russia reported that it analyzes photo and video materials. Today, the Defense Ministry said that the markings on the parts of the rocket shown on the previous day show that it was manufactured in 1986. The warranty period for this type of anti-aircraft missile is 15 years, and in Russia they were all disposed after 2011, the military department notes.

 Absolute mistrust

"The investigation ... did not include the Russian side, although the Ukrainian side was represented. And, of course, not being able to be a full participant in the work of the investigation team, Russia does not know to what extent it is possible to trust the results of this work, "Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, said today. Russia rejects accusations on the merits, he stressed, there is "absolute mutual distrust" about technical details.

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