KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2020) Tehran is ready to begin negotiations with Ukraine regarding the downed Ukraine International Airlines' flight PS752, on July 20, the Iranian Embassy in Kiev said on Wednesday.
Earlier in the month, Ukraine, Canada, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, and Sweden signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in talks with Iran about the downed aircraft. According to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Kiev will negotiate with Iran on behalf of that group, which lost citizens to the crash.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is neither hiding anything nor looking for reasons for not cooperating with Ukraine. In light of that, today, on July 8, the Iranian side announced through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Embassy of Ukraine in the Islamic Republic of Iran its readiness to launch bilateral talks, starting July 20, 2020, and now we are waiting for a date to be proposed by the Ukrainian side," the embassy said in a statement, published by Ukraine's Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper.
On January 8, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukraine International Airlines crashed soon after departing from an airport in Tehran. Citizens of Iran, Canada, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom were among the 176 passengers and crew who died. Iran later revealed that its military had shot the plane down by accident.
