PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, December 25. /TASS/. The United States and Ukraine will sooner or later have to answer questions within the framework of the investigation into the crash of the Malaysian Boeing over Ukraine near Donetsk last summer, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

He was speaking in an evening talk-show on the Rossiya-1 television news channel on Thursday.

“”We still have no replies to the questions: Where are the data from the US satellites that monitored the area on that day? Where are the data from US planes that were flying over that area? Where are the testimonies by Dnipropetrovsk air traffic controllers who were responsible for keeping track of flights in that part of Ukraine’s airspace? We have long requested a logbook of all sorties Ukrainian combat planes based on that area flew on that day,” Lavrov said, adding that nothing had been done.

“We only hear accusations that Russia is to blame for everything, that the militias are to blame for everything, and that our questions are being asked for the sole purpose of misleading the investigation,” Lavrov said.

He is certain, though, that truth will make its way to the surface in the long run.

“It is impossible to pretend ignorant on and on when very specific questions are asked again and again. We have opened a criminal case. It will be impossible to ignore this process. The questions will have to be answered,” he said.

New evidence in the case

Earlier this week, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said investigators have received evidence of involvement of a Ukrainian military aircraft in the Malaysian Boeing’s crash.

Russian investigators on Tuesday evening questioned a Ukrainian serviceman who earlier gave an interview to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper on the Boeing crash. In line with his testimony, the Boeing 777 could have been shot down by a Su-25 of Ukraine’s Air Force flown by Ukraine Air Force pilot surnamed Voloshin.

However, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said Voloshin had not flown on the day when the Boeing crashed in the Donetsk Region.

Markin said that “as the witness may be endangered, the investigation is considering granting him state protection under a witness protection program.” He said that if “representatives of the international commission investigating the air crash are interested in establishing the truth and turn to us, we are ready to provide [them with] all available materials.”