Foreign Ministry: Russia ceases participation in the dispute with Australia and the Netherlands over the MH17 case
Russia is ending its involvement in the dispute with Australia and the Netherlands over the downing of Boeing MH17 in the Donbass in 2014. The Russian Foreign Ministry reported this.
In the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), let the Westerners and their satellites now deal with each other. We cease our participation in this farce. Russia does not recognize the authority of the Council to consider the stuffing of Australia and the Netherlands, as well as any decisions that will be made in connection with them
The department emphasized its commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 2166, as well as to establishing the true causes of the MH17 plane crash, in contrast to the “biased majority” in the ICAO Council. The statement emphasized Russia’s “openness to appropriate work” on the case within the framework of current international law.
The UN Security Council, in a resolution dated July 21, 2017, stated that it supports efforts being made to organize a comprehensive, thorough and independent international investigation into this incident in accordance with the guidelines of international civil aviation.
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, flying MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed on July 17, 2014. There were 298 people on board, none of them survived.
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The Netherlands and Australia accuse Russia of violating the civil aviation convention
On March 14, 2022, the Netherlands and Australia filed a joint complaint against Russia with the ICAO under Article 84 of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. In it, they demanded that the ICAO Council find Russia guilty of violating Article 3 bis of the convention, which requires states to refrain from using weapons against civil aircraft in flight, and compensate for the damage caused.
The Foreign Ministry clarified that in March 2023, despite Moscow’s objections, the Council recognized its competence to consider the dispute.
Russia does not agree with this decision; it initially did not recognize and still does not recognize the competence of the Council in this matter. Despite this, we continued to participate in the proceedings, since we believed that the ICAO platform could be used for professional dialogue on the topic of the plane crash
The department emphasized that Russia has repeatedly offered to conduct a full, thorough and independent international investigation into the crash, as required by UN Security Council Resolution 2166. However, this was refused to Moscow.
Russia was unable to fully participate in the technical investigation of the Dutch Security Council and the criminal investigation of the Joint Investigation Team (Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine), and the final conclusions contain a significant number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies.
Earlier, the chairman of the Foundation for Relatives of Disaster Victims, Piet Pluch, during the hearings at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the joint lawsuit of the Netherlands and Ukraine against Russia, said that Moscow did not provide any information or data that would facilitate a new investigation into the crash of the Malaysian Boeing. .
The Prosecutor General’s Office said that Moscow provided ICAO with evidence of non-involvement in the crash of MH17
Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General of Russia for Special Assignments Denis Grunis said that Moscow provided ICAO with evidence of non-involvement in the crash of MH17.
We presented ICAO with a large amount of evidence and other materials demonstrating the lack of competence of the ICAO Council and the absurdity of accusations against Russia for involvement in the MH17 plane crash
At the same time, Russia does not expect a fair decision from the ICAO Council, which is dominated by the states of the collective West, a representative of the agency noted.
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Investigation into MH17 crash closed due to lack of evidence
In November 2022, following a court hearing in The Hague, Igor Girkin (Strelkov), Sergei Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in the case of the MH17 crash.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, commenting on the court’s decision, said: it selectively accepted materials and “neglected the principles of impartial justice.”
In February 2023, despite the verdict, the Dutch prosecutor’s office refused to close the case regarding the crash of the Malaysian Boeing. Investigators believe that the Russian leadership was involved in the decision to transfer the Buk anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) to the DPR.
However, the International Investigation Team suspended the criminal investigation due to a lack of evidence.
The investigation has now reached its limit. All leads have been exhausted
Malaysian authorities have criticized the closure of the case of the crash of Boeing flight MH17 and announced their intention to continue to seek justice. “The case is officially closed. However, we understand that justice has not yet been served,” said the country’s transport minister, Anthony Loke.
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