MOSCOW – Russia yesterday said it will withdraw from consultations with the Netherlands and Australia over Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine in 2014, complaining of “vicious” attempts to pin blame on Moscow.
“Hostile acts by the Netherlands have made any continuation of the trilateral consultations and our participation senseless,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement.
The three countries have since 2018 held discussions aimed at uncovering the cause of the disaster, in which the Boeing 777, on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was hit by a Soviet-designed BUK missile on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board.
On the plane that was shot down over territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists were 196 Dutch citizens and 38 Australians.
Speaking to reporters at a European Union summit in Brussels, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he is “disappointed” and “surprised” by Russia’s decision, adding that it is “especially painful” for victims’ families.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Stef Blok told Dutch lawmakers that he has summoned the Russian ambassador to convey his “deep regrets” over the move.
But, said Blok, he is “committed to continuing negotiations”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba, in a statement, said Russia’s withdrawal “speaks volumes about its fear of the truth about what happened on July 17, 2014 in the skies over Donbass”, the separatist Ukrainian region where MH17 crashed.
Moscow complained that The Hague is bringing a case against it “for its role in the destruction of flight MH17” before the European Court of Human Rights “after just three rounds of talks”.
The Netherlands “thereby demonstrate their firm intention to take the vicious path... of unilaterally assigning responsibility to Russia for what happened”, it added.
Dutch leaders have openly accused Russia of standing behind the deaths of its citizens. But, Moscow has always forcefully denied it was involved in the crash, and blamed Ukraine.
“Australia and the Netherlands have obviously not tried to understand what really happened in the summer of 2014, but rather, just wanted to secure a confession from Russia and compensation for the victims’ relatives,” said the Foreign Ministry.
Russia will “continue its cooperation” with The Hague in the inquiry, but “in a different format”, it said.
Dutch courts in March began hearing a case against four suspects – three Russians and one Ukrainian – accused of having caused the crash. – AFP, October 16, 2020
