MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2019) The next Australian-Russian-Dutch meeting on the 2014 crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine may take place before the end of 2019, Australian Ambassador to Russia Graeme Meehan told Sputnik on Monday.
"There is still no precise date, but it is possible that the meeting will take place before the end of the year," the diplomat said.
The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 crashed on July 17, 2014 in eastern Ukraine while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people aboard, mostly Dutch citizens, Malaysians and Australians, were killed. Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's easternmost Donbas region, where the plane crashed, have exchanged blame for the incident.
The investigation into the MH17 crash is being conducted by Dutch prosecutors and the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which has accused Russia of instigating the attack. According to the JIT, flight MH17 was brought down by a missile that came from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, based near the Russian city of Kursk.
Moscow has repeatedly denied the JIT's accusations, saying that the claims were unfounded and the investigation was biased. Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that Russia had been granted access to the investigation and that Moscow would be able to recognize its results only if given access to the probe.
