MH17 may be on agenda of Mahathir-Putin meet

SINGAPORE: Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is set to have a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sideline of the 33rd Asean Summit in the island city.

The meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday. Putin is attending the 3rd Asean-Russia Summit and 13th East Asia Summit.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, who confirmed the bilateral meet, said that the ill- fated flight MH17 could be among their topics of discussion.

“Our position has always been very clear. We are awaiting the conclusive report from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT),” he told a press conference here yesterday.

After four years of investigation into the downing of flight Malaysia Airlines MH17, Dutch-led JIT said the jetliner was shot down by a Russian missile, BUK TELAR.

The team was convinced that a BUK TELAR was used to down MH17, and that it originated from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade ( 53rd Brigade), which is a unit of the Russian Army from Kursk in the Russian Federation.

The JIT looking into the incident was made up of Dutch prosecutors and police and others from Australia, Malaysia and Ukraine.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine. All 298 people onboard were killed.

Besides, Putin, Dr Mahathir will also have bilateral meeting with Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. — Bernama