Moscow: Main cause of MH17 crash is that Kiev did not close Ukraine’s airspace

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. Russia considers that the main cause of the MH17 plane crash over Ukraine is that Kiev did not close its airspace during a military operation with the use of aviation and air defense forces, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"In the view of the Russian side, the main cause of the accident was that the Ukrainian authorities when using aircraft, heavy weapons and air defense equipment in the conflict zone failed to closed the country’s airspace, as required by international rules," she said.

According to the ministry official, Ukraine’s full responsibility for not closing its airspace is the only point of the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) investigation with which Russia is ready to agree. "All the other [DSB conclusions] contradict reality," he said.

Moscow is disappointed that the Netherlands has ignored Russia’s arguments concerning the Boeing-777 crash in the sky above Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson went on to say.

"We have repeatedly expressed our attitude to the Dutch-held probe into the Boeing-777 crash. Now with all the conclusions made and the report published, we have no other assessments except for saying and repeating once again that the investigation had been extremely biased and engaged.

"We are particularly disappointed with the fact that the Russian conclusions, assessments, the results of tests and experiments were ignored," Zakharova said.

"The probe’s conclusions would have been different if the facts provided by the Russian side had been taken into account," the Russian diplomat stressed.