BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st June, 2019) The European Council called on Russia to fully cooperate with the international investigation into the deadly crash of the MH17 flight, whose findings Moscow considers unfounded.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the international Joint Investigation Team (JIT) lied when it claimed Moscow was allegedly refusing to cooperate with the probe into the crash in eastern Ukraine. Moscow said it would continue supporting the investigation for holding the perpetrators accountable. Its statement followed the release of Names of four suspects � three Russian nationals and one Ukrainian national � by the JIT. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there were still many questions in the MH17 flight crash situation, adding that Russia was not satisfied with the colleagues' approach to the investigation.
"[The European Council] welcomes the announcement by the Joint Investigation Team on 19 June 2019 that criminal charges will be brought in the Netherlands against four individuals, calls on Russia to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation, and expresses its full confidence in the independence and professionalism of the legal procedures that lie ahead," the conclusions on the council's meeting in Brussels read.
The document noted that the council reiterated its support for efforts to ensure justice in the case in line with UNSC Resolution 2166.
Flight MH17 crashed with 298 people on board on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine, while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, leaving no survivors. Kiev and self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's southeast have blamed each other for the downing of Malaysia Airlines plane.
The Dutch-led JIT concluded that the plane was brought down by the missile, which came from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, based near Russia's Kursk. The Russian Foreign Ministry refuted the conclusions as groundless and called the investigation biased.
Moscow has repeatedly denied the JIT accusations of having a role in the MH17 crash and said that these claims were unfounded while the investigation itself was biased. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia has not been granted access to the investigation, adding that Moscow would be able to recognize its results only if it is a part of the probe.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said that in 2011, the Russian authorities disposed of all the missiles from the series that included the missile whose engine the JIT demonstrated as an evidence to prove Russia's involvement in the downing of the plane.
