KIEV, January 14. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) has demanded an official apology from Iran over the downing of Ukraine International Airlines passenger plane in Tehran, the document approved by 368 MPs informs. The document also includes demands to return the passengers’ bodies and to provide compensation payments.
"Ukraine demands a full investigation of all circumstances of this plane crash, an official apology from Iran, as well as the return of the bodies and the payment of all compensations," the statement informs.
The approved statement serves a declarative purpose.
Before the document was considered by the Rada (parliament), the European Solidarity party led by former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko offered to submit another version of the statement, which implicates Russia in the plane crash, connecting the events in Iran to the 2014 MH17 plane crash over Ukraine and accusing Russia of selling weapons to other states. Poroshenko’s initiative was not considered by Ukrainian MPs.
On January 8, Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 travelling from Tehran to Kiev crashed near the Iranian capital shortly after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport. All people onboard, 167 passengers and 9 crewmembers, were killed. Most victims were Canadian and Iranian citizens. On January 11, Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff released a statement admitting the plane had been mistakenly shot down. According to Iranian Brigadier-General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, the plane was misidentified as a cruise missile by the air defense force.