Four years after Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was blown out of the sky over war-torn eastern Ukraine and killing all 298 people on board, Russia faced international calls to accept responsibility for it.
The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has concluded that the plane was brought down by a Russian-made Buk missile belonging to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Military Brigade of the Russian army, which was launched from an area held by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The final report by the Dutch Safety Board was released in October 2015. It believed that the two pilots and the purser, who were sitting in the cockpit, died instantly when the warhead exploded, but could not rule out the possibility that some occupants of the aircraft were conscious for some or all the time it took to hit the ground, up to 90 seconds after the missile exploded.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin and state media have steadfastly denied any involvement and cast doubt on the international investigation, furthermore they are sought to put the blame on Ukraine and state media offering often-outlandish alternative theories that experts have debunked and rejected.
The Russian Defence Ministry, in turn, obtained information that a radar of the Ukrainian military's Buk-M1 anti-aircraft battery was activated a day before the MH17 crash and that the jet could have been attacked from several positions in the Donetsk region.
Moscow has repeatedly urged Western countries to allow Russian representatives to join the investigation team, but to no avail. Moreover, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in turn, said that Russia has repeatedly provided international investigators with documentary evidence regarding the MH17 crash, but they have been ignored.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said The UK fully supports Australia and the Netherlands in their call on the Russian Federation to accept state responsibility, and to cooperate with them in their efforts to deliver justice for the victims of this tragedy.
“This is another example of the Russian Federation’s disregard for human life and the rules based international system and Russia must answer for its actions,” he said as quoted from gov.uk (Jul 17).
The former prime minister Najib Razak said Malaysians displayed a united spirit during that time and added that he did his best within his capacity to ensure the remains of the victims were recovered quickly. “Let’s all say a prayer for those who perished. They will never be forgotten,” he wrote on his social media accounts.
MH17 was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on 17 July 2014 while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.
The shoot-down occurred in the War in Donbass, during the Battle of Shakhtarsk, in an area controlled by pro-Russian rebels. The crash was Malaysia Airlines' second aircraft loss during 2014 after the disappearance of Flight 370 on 8 March.
Sources: themoscowtimes.com, gov.uk, irishtimes.com, independent.co.uk, malaymail.com