Russia blamed for downing passenger jet over Ukraine
THE Netherlands and Australia have announced they are holding Russia legally responsible for its role in the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet over Ukraine nearly four years ago.
The move puts further strain on already tense relations between Moscow and the West and opens a new legal front in the long-running process of apportioning blame for the July 17, 2014, missile strike that blew Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 out of the sky and killed all 298 people on board.
“State responsibility comes into play when states fail to uphold provisions of international law and that’s clearly the case,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters, a day after international prosecutors said they had unequivocal involvement.
On Thursday a Dutch-led international team of investigators said they had strong evidence that the Buk missile system that brought down the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight came from a Russia-based military unit, the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Russia was responsible for downing MH17.
He said the Ukrainian military could have been responsible, noting a 2001 incident in which the Ukrainian army accidentally downed a Russian airliner over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people on board. evidence of Russian