Russia responsible in downing of airliner over Ukraine, say Netherlands, Australia

On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down while flying over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, most of them from the Netherlands. Dozens of them were Australian citizens.

Missile belonged to Russian brigade: investigators

A team of Dutch-led international investigators on Thursday said that the missile which brought down the plane belonged to a Russian brigade, the BBC reported.

Russia has denied any involvement in the downing of the plane.

"The Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17," Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok was quoted by the BBC as saying.

‘Direct link’

Blok told reporters in The Hague: “It has now been indisputably proven that there is a direct link between the rocket that hit MH17 and the Russian army.”

Blok said the Netherlands and Australia would seek compensation from Russia.

Last year, the Bellingcat investigative search network said that a Buk-M1 missile system believed to have shot down the Malaysian Airlines flight belonged to the Russian army.

(pk/gs)

Source: PAP/niezalezna.pl