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Russia denied participation in investigation of MH17 crash — foreign ministry

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova also stressed that establishing an international tribunal on MH17 crash is "premature and counter-productive"
Russian Foreign Ministry ITAR-TASS/Gennadiy Khamelyanin
Russian Foreign Ministry
© ITAR-TASS/Gennadiy Khamelyanin

MOSCOW, September 3. /TASS/. Moscow regrets that Russia was denied a significant part in the investigation of MH17 crash in Ukraine last year, Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"We are interested in comprehensive and objective international investigation of Malaysian Boeing crash," the diplomat said. "However, Russia has several serious issues on this matter. Among them are weak, very weak, evidence and denying Russia participation in the investigation."

"I mean that Russian specialists are denied equal and full access to materials that are accessible to the international group on technical investigation and international investigative group," Zakahrova noted.

She also stressed that establishing an international tribunal on MH17 crash is "premature and counter-productive." "Existing examples of international tribunals confirm that their activities are ineffective, costly and extremely politicized," she said.

MH17 crash in east Ukraine

On 17 July 2014, 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 suspected cause of the crash is that the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile. The Dutch Safety Board is conducting the investigation.