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Russia submits its draft resolution on MH17 crash in Ukraine to UN Security Council

Russian Ambassador to the UN confirmed that Russia is against the idea of creating a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the MH17 crash as suggested by the Malaysian draft resolution

UNITED NATIONS, July 20 /TASS/. Russia has submitted its own draft resolution on the MH17 air crash in Ukraine to the United Nations Security Council, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Monday. He added that the UN Security Council will meet behind the closed doors at Russia’s request at 15:00 local time (22:00 Moscow time) on Monday.

"We are in the process of consultations. We have submitted our own draft resolution. We have convened a meeting for 15:00 in the afternoon to discuss it," Churkin stressed.

He confirmed that Russia was against the idea of creating a tribunal to prosecute persons responsible for the MH17 crash as suggested by the Malaysian draft resolution, which classifies the crash as a threat to peace and security. Last week, Churkin said that the plane crash in Ukraine was a crime and posed no threat to international people and security. "It contradicts the United Nations Charter. We believe that the UN Security Council should not tackle such situations," the Russian diplomat said.

"I am firmly convinced that the UN Security Council should do its business. Some carry out investigations, others, like journalists, for example, write about it. But we should stick to the United Nations charter; international law and resolution 2166, which we adopted previously, and act on its basis as it pertains to the UN Security Council," Churkin stressed.

The Malaysian Boeing-777 (MH17) crashed over Ukraine’s Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. The plane was on its way from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Fifteen crewmen and 283 passengers (they were citizens of many countries but most of them were Dutch), died. According to the main version, the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air or an air-to-air missile. The Ukrainian government and the militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) accused each other of what happened.

On July 21, 2014, the UN Security Council ordered an all-round and independent investigation into the MH17 crash. The Dutch Security Council took the incident’s investigation under its control.

The Russian Foreign Ministry repeated many times that it did not like how the investigation was being carried out.