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Churkin: Russia ready to continue assisting investigation into MH17 crash in Ukraine

Russia’s UN Ambassador said decision to vote against the MH17 tribunal draft resolution "has nothing to do with encouragement of impunity"

UNITED NATIONS, July 29./TASS/. Russia is ready to continue assisting with the investigation into the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine in July 2014, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told a session of the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

"Russia is ready to continue assisting in a full, independent and objective investigation into the causes and circumstances of the crash of the Malaysian airliner, basing on provisions of Security Council resolution 2166 [of 2014] with an aim to find those guilty and have them punished," the diplomat said.

He said Russia’s decision to vote against the MH17 tribunal draft resolution "has nothing to do with encouragement of impunity".

A draft resolution on setting up a tribunal for the MH17 tragedy is devoid of any legal or case basis, the Russian ambassador to the UN said.

The incident with MH17 cannot be qualified as a threat to international peace and security, he said adding that the shooting down of a Russian Tupolev-154 jet by a Ukrainian naval missile over the Black Sea in the autumn of 2001 did not entail the setting up of any tribunals.