Russia is ready for a substantive and professional discussion on all aspects of the ongoing international investigation into the 2014 MH17 flight crash in eastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2019) Russia is ready for a substantive and professional discussion on all aspects of the ongoing international investigation into the 2014 MH17 flight crash in eastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday.
Last month, Zakharova said that Russia, Australia and the Netherlands would hold a trilateral meeting to discuss the course of the investigation. Moscow insists that the meeting can be held only if no ultimatums are voiced by Amsterdam and Canberra.
"Russia is ready for a substantive and professional discussion on all the aspects of the ongoing international investigation. Another approach is unlikely to be constructive ... As far as we understand, the investigation has not been completed yet, while our multiple questions regarding it remain without answers," Zakharova said, as quoted by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The spokeswoman also refuted remarks made by Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok that the trilateral meeting would focus on legal responsibility of Russia in the MH17 crash.
"They will focus not on 'recognition of the Russian legal responsibility in the crash' but on the whole complex of issues linked to this incident, which are crucial for determination of real causes [of the MH17 crash]. The Dutch and Australian parties have many times expressed their readiness to hold discussions in such a manner," Zakharova said.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Moscow wants to know whether the data provided by Russia for the investigation are being taken into account and how this information is being used.
"[We would also like to discuss] Ukraine's refusal to provide radar data, a transcript of Ukrainian traffic controllers' conversations, a registration book of Ukrainian ammunition as of the moment of the crash, causes of the decision to leave the airspace over southeastern Ukraine open for civil aviation," Zakharova added.
On July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Donbas. All 298 people on board, mostly Dutch nationals, died. Kiev accused local militias of downing the aircraft, while they said that had no weapons capable of downing such a plane.
The interim conclusions presented by the Dutch-led international Joint Investigation Team (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.
According to Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolay Vinnichenko, Russia sent to the JIT the data showing that the missile that hit the Boeing was a Ukrainian one, but this information was not taken into account.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the JIT allegations of Russia's links to the crash were groundless and regrettable, adding that the investigation was biased and one-sided. Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that Russia was not allowed to participate in the investigation into the crash, and Moscow could recognize the results of the probe only in case of its full participation in it.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that all Russian missiles like the one, which, according to the Dutch investigative commission, downed the MH17 flight, had been decommissioned after 2011.
