MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. The West is seeking no answers about the causes of a Malaysian airliner’s crash over east Ukraine in 2014, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.
It was reported earlier this week that the primary radar data provided by Russia to the international commission probing the MH17 crash could not be deciphered and their format did not comply with international standards.
"The official investigation is not hurrying anywhere. The victims’ relatives will mark already the third anniversary of this horrible tragedy in their calendar in summer but they still have no explicit answer about the causes and the culprits," the Russian diplomat said.
"Instead of promptness and transparency, there are still attempts to accuse Russia without any grounds or facts. This time, they are more likely aimed at distracting the attention of the victims’ families who are demanding the resumption of search missions and accusing the Dutch authorities of negligence and indifference," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.
- Dutch prosecutors name no date for sending request on MH17 to Russia
- Russian aviation watchdog regrets MH17 crash investigators delay probe deadlines
- Russian diplomat concerned MH17 crash probe results might be censored
- Dutch journalist says plane fragments can still be found at MH17 crash site
- Police to investigate MH17 data seized from Dutch journalists
- Russian diplomat says MH17 probe cannot ignore data from Russian radars
"Of course, all this is disadvantageous for our Western colleagues who are not seeking the answers to the question about what had really happened there," the Russian diplomat said.
The Russian side is ready to provide the assistance of its specialists, Zakharova said.
"The only problem is that no one is in a hurry to send us such a request for assistance," the Russian diplomat said.
Spokesman for the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office Wim de Bruin told TASS on Monday the Netherlands would send Russia a new request to specify radar data on the crash of the Malaysian airliner.
"The radar data were supplied in an unusual format. Therefore the Dutch prosecutor will send a supplementary request for legal assistance to RF [the Russian Federation]," the spokesman said. He did not specify, however, how soon the Netherlands would send such a request to Russia.
The Russian defense manufacturer Almaz-Antey, which produces Buk antiaircraft missile systems, announced in September 2016 it had been able to obtain the so-called primary unprocessed radar images of the airspace in the area of the MH17 crash on July 17, 2014 from one of its enterprises, LEMZ Research and Production Association.
The findings were transferred to the Russian competent bodies for study and on October 26, 2016 they were sent to the Dutch side.
As Russia’s analysis shows, the primary radar data reject the possibility that a surface-to-air missile was fired at the Malaysian Boeing from the area east of the air crash site, including from the settlement of Snezhnoye.
Meanwhile, the Joint Investigation Team comprising representatives of Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine claims that the airliner was hit by a missile from a Buk antiaircraft missile system located at the time of the missile launch in the area of the village of Pervomaiskoye south of the Snezhnoye community controlled by the militia at that time.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 passenger airliner on a flight from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur crashed in the area of hostilities between local militias and Ukrainian governmental troops in east Ukraine’s Donetsk region in July 2014. All 298 people aboard the airliner died in the air crash. Most of the air crash’s victims were Dutch nationals.
Immediately after the air crash, versions were put forward that the airliner could have been hit by a missile.