The Netherlands have appointed former Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash investigations coordinator Gilles Beschoor Plug as new ambassador to Russia, the embassy reported on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2021) The Netherlands have appointed former Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash investigations coordinator Gilles Beschoor Plug as new ambassador to Russia, the embassy reported on Friday.
"The Netherlands have appointed a new ambassador to the Russian Federation. Mr. Gilles Beschoor Plug. He is yet to arrive in the country," the embassy told Sputnik.
Previously, Beschoor Plug was the country's ambassador to Serbia, from 2014-2015 he worked as a coordinator for the MH17 plane crash investigations, and from 2015 to 2019 was the country's ambassador to Israel.
The Malaysian Boeing crashed in July 2014 while flying over a conflict zone in Ukraine's east from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT), set up by Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, was tasked with the investigations. The JIT claims that the plane was downed by a Buk missile belonging to the Russian armed forces. Russia has firmly denied the accusation.
Earlier in February, the Netherlands decided against prosecuting Ukraine for failure to close its airspace during the conflict.
