MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over the Netherlands’ position actually exculpating Ukraine of responsibility for the MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine back in 2014.

"It is outrageous that the Netherlands has actually exculpated Kiev of responsibility for non-closing airspace over the combat operations zone in the east of the country," the ministry said on Tuesday on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the tragedy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry drew attention to the fact that although a party concerned, Ukraine is a member of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT). "A blind eye is being turned on Kiev’s non-provision of such important data as radar readings, information on the location and the use of Ukrainian air defense systems, records of Ukrainian air traffic controllers," the ministry noted.

This apart, the mere progress of the investigation causes concern due to its closed and biased nature, the use of unverified sources, cooperation with the Bellingcat group "notorious for its fake discharges to the pseudo-investigators," the ministry stressed.

A Boeing-777 passenger plane operated by Malaysian Airlines crashed on July 17, 2014, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in the east of the Donetsk region. As many as 283 passengers and 15 crew members - citizens of 10 states, were killed in the crash. Despite combat operation on the ground, Kiev opted not to close airspace for international passenger aircraft over the area. The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) includes representatives of the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine. On May 24, it issued an interim report saying that the missile system used to down MH17 originated from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile brigade, a Russian army unit based near Kursk.

Russia’s Defense Ministry rejected all the allegations, saying not a single missile system of the Russian army had ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border.