MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. Russia insists that the United States provide satellite photographs made at the moment of the recent Malaysian Boeing-777’s death for investigation, the Russian Federation’s permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Andrey Kelin said Monday.
“We keep insisting that the Americans provide their satellite data, as they couldn’t but see what was happening on that day at that place,” Kelin told the Rossiya 24 TV channel. “We also urgently need data of talks between air traffic controllers that can be provided by the Ukrainian side.”
“There has been no information in this respect,” he said.
On July 17, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 passenger airliner on flight MH17 from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur crashed in the Donetsk Region in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Most passengers - 193 people - were Dutch nationals.
The Dutch Safety Board, which is leading the probe and coordinating the international team of investigators, said in its preliminary report published September 9 that “Flight MH17 with a Boeing 777-200 operated by Malaysia Airlines broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside.”
Kelin also told Rossiya 24 that he hopes the investigation into the Boeing crash will be completed.
“I was glad to learn today that collection of the wreckage resumed and it will be taken away. A couple of days ago, the issue was deadlocked,” he said.
“I hope and see the Dutch addressing the issue seriously, overcoming political difficulties, and the case is getting along well,” Kelin added.
He said that “the role of the OSCE is small here, they should contribute to completion of the operation although they are now witnessing the site being shelled by the [Ukrainian] army.”
“I hope this work [to investigate the crash] will be accomplished and experts will be able to examine Boeing wreckage not only by TV footage but on the site, and make certain conclusions that will show the investigation has been completed anyway,” the Russian envoy said.
According to the United Nations, more than 4,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled Ukraine’s southeast as a result of clashes between Ukrainian troops and local militias in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions during Kiev’s military operation, conducted since mid-April, to regain control over the breakaway territories, which call themselves the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics.
The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on a ceasefire at OSCE-mediated talks on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed his plan to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine.
The ceasefire took effect the same day but has reportedly occasionally been violated.
On September 19 in Minsk, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE adopted a memorandum outlining the parameters for the implementation of commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5.
The document contains nine points, including in particular a ban on the use of all armaments and withdrawal of weapons with the calibers of over 100 millimeters to a distance of 15 kilometers from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions.