The date of the next round of Australian-Russian-Dutch consultations on the 2014 MH17 aircraft crash in the east of Ukraine remains uncertain, Australian Ambassador to Russia Graeme Meehan said in an interview with RIA Novosti, expressing hope that new negotiations would follow in 2019
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2019) The date of the next round of Australian-Russian-Dutch consultations on the 2014 MH17 aircraft crash in the east of Ukraine remains uncertain, Australian Ambassador to Russia Graeme Meehan said in an interview with RIA Novosti, expressing hope that new negotiations would follow in 2019.
The negotiations between Russia, the Netherlands and Australia, which is a member of the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT), are ongoing, the diplomat noted.
"Well, I know there have been further discussions since March. There were some talks recently, and there will be more talks later in the year, but I don't have a date exactly," Meehan said.
Meehan added that Australia would be "happy" to consider a message by Josef Resch, a German detective who has carried out his own investigation into the MH17 crash at the order of a private client, if he decided to provide it to Canberra upon facing another refusal from the JIT to take his information into account.
"Of course, [we would be] very happy to consider, and I think the JIT will consider any new information whether it is from him or anyone else. We are not closing into any new information," Meehan said, when asked whether Australia would consider a message by Resch, noting that if the detective wanted to give Australia information, he would be "most welcome to do that."
The diplomat also praised the JIT's professionalism.
"Certainly for me I'm not trying to analyze myself or to second guess the evidence, but I have confidence in the professionalism of the investigators. I know they subject all evidence to a very thorough and careful analysis," Meehan said.
Resch, who claims he is aware of who is responsible for the deadly crash, has made attempts to provide the JIT with evidence related to the case, but has got a refusal because of asking to make the materials public. Resch has said he could contact Russia, Malaysia and other countries and suggest them to publish his information about the tragedy.
Flight MH17 crashed on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people on board were killed. Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's easternmost region have exchanged blame for the downing of the plane.
The JIT has concluded that the plane was brought down by a missile that came from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, based near Russia's Kursk. The Russian Foreign Ministry has refuted the conclusions as groundless and called the investigation biased.
