KUALA LUMPUR: Russia has continued to dismiss any involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 four years ago, and described the initial findings of a joint probe, which was released by the Netherlands as being “one-sided” in its accusations against Russia.
The Russian Federation’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the version of events in the tragedy that was presented by the Joint Investigative Group (JIG) on Thursday was regrettable.
One claim in question was that the Buk anti-aircraft missile system used to launch the missile that hit the aircraft originated from Russia before it arrived in Ukraine. The Netherlands, in a statement on Friday claimed that the missile launcher system belonged to Air Defence Brigade 53 deployed in Kursk.
“This is a case of unfounded accusations aimed at discrediting our country in the eyes of the international community.
“No evidence, of course, was presented, except for a visually striking video based on data frabricated by Bellingcat bloggers, who were previously found to be distorting facts to support the hypothesis of Russia’s involvement in the crash of the airliner,” said a statement by the ministry on Friday.
All 298 people on board flight MH17 were killed when the missile slammed into the aircraft, which was flying over a conflict-hit region in eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014.
The victims comprised 193 Dutch, 43 Malaysians, 27 from Australia and others passengers from Indonesia, the UK, Belgium, Germany and the Philippines.
Both the Netherlands and Australia are holding Russia "accountable" for the tragedy 2014, which could likely lead to legal action.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who responded to media questions on the issue on Friday said the Dutch-led investigators had ignored a significant amount of information provided by Russia in the JIT probe.
He said that his country fully cooperated and provided a significant amount of information to the investigators, despite it not being invited to join the JIT
The assistance included hosting Dutch experts and investigators in Moscow while handing over design data of Buk missiles, and providing a full-scale experiment carried out by the manufacturer of this type of anti-aircraft missile systems, the Almaz-Antey company.
“We have provided a lot of factual information, including primary data from radars that were operating in the Rostov Region on that tragic day. We have responded to all legal assistance requests sent by the Dutch Prosecutor’s Office,” he said.
He compared the accusations coming from the Netherlands and Australia to the case of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, who was poisoned with a nerve agent along with his daughter in the UK in March this year.
Lavrov said similar to the MH17 case, Russia had been wrongly accused by London to be responsible for Skripal’s poisoning when Scotland Yard had yet to complete the investigations over it.
“It’s like a deja vu. If our partners decided to do it again and speculate on this grave human tragedy (hundreds of people died) to achieve their political aims, I’ll leave this on their conscience,” said Lavrov referring to the MH17 initial findings .
He said that he was informed by his Dutch counterpart Stef Blok about “the new level” reached in the JIT investigation and asked that proof be given about Russia’s alleged involvement in the deployment of the Buk anti-aircraft missile system.
“I asked for facts that prove these allegations. He (Blok) gave no facts, saying that they want the Russian Federation to help them establish them on the basis of unconfirmed suspicions,” said Lavrov.