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Investigators to request interrogation of Russian suspects in MH17 case

Russian citizens Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov are among the suspects named by the Dutch investigators

© Mikhail Pochuev/TASS

NIEUWEGEIN /Netherlands/, June 19. /TASS/. International investigators will address Russia with the request to interrogate the suspects in the MH17 crash case, Dutch prosecutor Fred Westerbeke stated during a press conference on Wednesday.

"We do not aim to pursue their extradition, as the laws of Russia and Ukraine do not suppose the handover of suspects," he noted. However, the investigators aim to request their interrogation, Westerbeke added.

Russian citizens Igor Girkin (known under an alias "Strelkov"), Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, as well as Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko, are among the suspects named by the Dutch investigators.

Westerbeke also informed that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) would continue the criminal investigation of the plane crash.

The MH17 crash

The 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 a result, 298 people, citizens of 10 states, were killed in the crash. The parties to the armed conflict in Donbass accused each other of being complicit in the tragedy.

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Investigation suspects 3 Russians, 1 Ukrainian of being involved in MH17 crash

On May 24, 2018, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), consisting of representatives from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, released its update on the criminal investigation into the MH17 crash. According to the JIT, "the BUK-TELAR that was used to down MH17 originates from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile brigade (hereinafter 53rd brigade), a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation."

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