Russia calls for impartial, independent and open probe into MH17 crash

MOSCOW, July 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia insists on an impartial, independent and open international investigation under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

“It is necessary to ensure an absolutely impartial, independent and open international investigation under the auspices of the ICAO,” said Andrei Kelin, Russia's Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), quoted on Russia's Foreign Ministry website on Friday.

“Total transparency should eliminate any possibility of fraud and falsification,” he was quoted as saying. “Unfortunatel,y we have reasons to be concerned.”

“We welcome the efforts of the OSCE and Switzerland, as the OSCE Chair, aimed at providing conditions for the most open and independent international investigation under the auspices of the ICAO,” he said. “Russia, for its part, is doing and will continue doing its best for a transparent and independent international investigation. In turn, people's militia, controlling the territory where the plane crashed, are cooperating with both Ukrainian and international experts, as follows from reports by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM).”

“It is important that a trilateral contact group involving representatives of the militia continues working,” the diplomat noted.

“We have resolved practical issues connected with delivering the remains of victims from the crash site to the city of Kharkiv,” he added. “Experts from the Netherlands have positively assessed the process of collecting and preserving the victims’ bodies, as the SMM says in its report.”

“We note the work of the SMM observers who have received full access to the crash site. Conditions have been provided for work of both Ukrainian experts and representatives of other countries,” Kelin said. “Black boxes have been found and handed over to representatives from Malaysia and the Netherlands.”

“We hope that after decoding the data, an international group of experts will take up the issue under the ICAO auspices,” he said, adding that Russia was ready to participate in the crash probe.

The Malaysia Airlines jet went down in eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur last Thursday, killing all 298 people onboard.