UIA plane crash: Ukraine to negotiate with Iran on behalf of five countries

"A video conference meeting was held between representatives of member states of the International Coordination and Response Group to support families of victims of PS752 which was shot down in Iran. The group includes Ukraine, Canada, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, and Sweden - all countries whose citizens were on the downed plane. We discussed Iranian compensation, criminal investigation, download and analysis of "black boxes", compensation for Ukraine International Airlines. But the main thing is that we signed a memorandum of understanding in cooperation at the negotiations on payment of compensation by the Islamic Republic of Iran," Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba posted on Facebook on June 2.

He noted that this memorandum was Ukraine’s idea from the very beginning.

"And I am glad that the members of the group supported our initiative. This is important because we have formalized a common approach to bring Iran to justice for the downing of the plane through interstate negotiations," the minister said.

Kuleba added that all the mentioned states would stand together and help each other as a group of affected countries, and Ukraine would be the voice of this group.

According to the minister, the document defines Ukraine as a spokesperson of the group at the talks, i.e., Ukraine will negotiate with Iran on behalf of the group. An advisory committee of representatives of each member of the coordination group will assist Ukraine in preparing for the rounds of negotiations in order to maximize common position.

"These interstate negotiations with Iran on the payment of compensation are an important and necessary step. These steps will lead us to the goal - the responsibility of Iran and the payment of compensation to the affected states and the families of the victims. I assure you that Iran will take full responsibility and pay for what was done. Justice will prevail, no matter how long it takes," Kuleba said.

The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane (flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after it took off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on January 8. There were 176 people on board – nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK). They all died.

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian plane. It emerged later that the UIA plane had been shot down by two missiles of the Tor-M1 air defense system, which Iran received from Russia.

At the ICAO Council meeting on June 26, the Iranian representatives agreed to send flight recorders to France for download and analysis by July 20.

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