MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. Russia plans to ask the Netherlands to resume the investigation into the MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday.
"Russia, on its part, plans to ask the Dutch Safety Board to resume the investigation into the MH17 crash. If the Netherlands expresses readiness to take part in the discussion of the course and results of our investigation, we are prepared to organize such work," the ministry said.
The Russian foreign ministry commented on Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders’ interview to the BNR radio station, where he had said that Russia was too critical about the results of the MH17 crash probe and this way muddying the waters.
"Such words pronounced by the Dutch foreign minister cannot but perplex. In is absolutely clear that Russia’s substantive and serious reaction to the Dutch Safety Board’s report has very many inconvenient for its authors remarks. But instead of turning an ear to the arguments of Russian specialists and admit the existence of obvious omissions, inconsistencies and contradictions that undermine confidence to this document, the Dutch authorities could invent nothing better than to accuse Russia of reluctance to cooperate and dissent with the report made public on October 13," the ministry said.
In the meantime, Russia had been calling for an independent international investigation from the very beginning, it co-authored a relevant United Nations Security Council resolution, it has been providing all unique information it had, including reports of the Almaz-Antey company.
"We cannot but be surprise to hear Mr. Koenders saying that Russia is not interested in discussion of the probe into the crash. Who else but Russia has repeatedly tried to get through to the investigation organizers with its offers of expert assistance. But all of our calls and proposals have been ignored and the final report of the Dutch Safety Board was biased and incomplete," the ministry said.
On October 13, the Dutch Safety Board published the results of its probe into the MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine in July 2014. According to the Dutch Safety Board report, the Malaysian airliner was hit by a missile with the 9H314M warhead. The location of the missile launcher was not established. The document only said that the missile was launched from an area of 320 square kilometres in eastern Ukraine. The missile exploded on the plane’s left side, near the cockpit. The document stressed that Ukraine did not close air space over the zone of combat operations in Donbass although there were all the grounds for that.
On the same day, Russia’s Almaz-Antey Concern presented the results of its experiments held as part of its own probe into the MH17 crash in east Ukraine last year. Almaz-Antey specialists have come to the conclusion that the Malaysian airliner was shot down in the summer of 2014 by a missile of the older 9M38 modification whose manufacture stopped in 1986 and withdrawn from service in Russia in 2011. However, according to experts, such missiles could still be used by the Ukrainian army. Almaz-Antey also confirmed the version that the fatal missile had been launched from the Zaroshchenskoye community controlled by the Ukrainian military and rejected the international commission’s version of the missile’s launch from Snezhnoye, a town that had been under militia’s control at that time.
The Boeing 777-200 of the Malaysia Airlines en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Region, some 60 km (over 37 miles) from the Russian border, in the zone of combat operations between the Donetsk self-defense forces and the Ukrainian army. All who were onboard the aircraft - 283 passengers and 15 crew members, citizens of ten countries - died. Most of the passengers - 196 people - were Dutch citizens. he Ukrainian authorities and the militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic accused each other of the airliner crash. The United Nations Security Council resolved on July 21 to hold a comprehensive and independent probe. Russia’s representatives have said on many occasions they are dissatisfied with how the investigation is being carried out and that the data presented by the Russian side are ignored.