Ukraine at OSCE again calls on Russia to recognize responsibility for downing of MH17

“Recognizing its responsibility for this heinous crime yet remains Russia’s obligation,” Ambassador Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on July 22.

The Ukrainian Ambassador noted that the MH17 Flight downing had been committed seven years ago by the Russia-backed illegal armed formations over the territory of Ukraine. “It was done with the direct support of the Russian Federation, which had illegally sent its Buk anti-aircraft missile system across the uncontrolled segment of the Ukrainian-Russian state border,” Tsymbaliuk said.

The diplomat added that the work of the Joint Investigation Team was aimed to establish all the circumstances, under which this tragedy took place. “All those who were responsible for it, need to be identified and brought to justice,” he said.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over occupied area of Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. All of them died. The international Joint Investigation Team reported that the plane had been shot down from a Buk missile system that belonged to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.

On June 19, 2019, the JIT named four suspects believed to be involved in the transportation and combat use of the Buk missile system, from which MH17 flight had been downed. Three of them are Russians: Igor Girkin (Strelkov), former colonel in Russia's FSB intelligence service and former so-called defense minister of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic"; Sergey Dubinskiy, general (at the time of downing – colonel) of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and head of the so-called "Main Intelligence Directorate of the Donetsk People’s Republic"; Oleg Pulatov, lieutenant colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The fourth suspect is Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian civilian, who fought on the side of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic.

In March 2020, the District Court of The Hague began the consideration of the case over the downing of Flight MH17. At the same time, Russia continues to deny its responsibility for the downing.

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