Malaysian Prime Minister Say Lack of MH17 Crash Culprit 5 Years On 'Sad'
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the Flight MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine, that he deeply regretted the fact that the parties responsible for launching a missile at the passenger plane was still unknown
Earlier on the day, the Malaysian Transport Ministry vowed that it would continue its efforts to ensure that the perpetrators would ultimately be brought to justice.
"We are sad as it was something done on purpose, but we do not know who launched the rocket. We know it was a rocket but we have yet to know who did it," the prime minister said, as quoted by the Star newspaper.
The official statements from Malaysia have been in striking contrast to the findings of the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which accuses Moscow and several Russian nationals of having a role in the downing, allegations that Russia has vehemently denied.
Mahathir Mohamad has similarly repeatedly denounced the charges as a "politically motivated" conclusion solely aimed at blaming Russia, and demanded that the JIT provide proof of Moscow's alleged guilt.
On July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Ukraine's easternmost region of Donbas. All 298 people on board, mostly Dutch and Malaysian nationals, died.
Kiev accused local militias of downing the aircraft, while the militias, in turn, said that they had no weapons capable of downing such a plane.
The interim conclusions presented by the JIT, which does not include Russia, suggested that the plane had been downed by a Russian-made Buk missile originating with a military brigade stationed in the Russian city of Kursk.
The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said that all Russian missiles of this type were decommissioned in 2011. According to Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolay Vinnichenko, Russia sent to the JIT data showing that the missile that hit the Boeing was a Ukrainian one, but this information was not taken into account.
Nevertheless, in June of this year, the JIT said that it had decided to bring charges against four suspects allegedly linked to the crash three Russians and a Ukrainian.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that the JIT allegations of Russia's links to the crash are groundless and regrettable, adding that the investigation is biased and one-sided. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pointed out that Moscow was not allowed to participate in the investigation and would only recognize the results of the probe if given full access to it.