Previously Putin has said a tribunal into the tragedy would politicise it.
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FILE – A photo taken on July 23, 2014 shows the crash site of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, in a field near the village of Grabove, in the Donetsk region. All 298 people on board the flight between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur were killed.
The aircraft, which was allegedly shot down by a Russia-made BUK missile, crashed inside a region in which Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed rebels were fighting the east Ukraine war.
The final results of a Dutch-led inquiry into the disaster are due to be published in October.
A preliminary report released in the Netherlands last year said the plane had no technical problems in the seconds before it broke up in the sky after being struck by multiple objects – a conclusion that experts said pointed to a missile strike.
It is “utterly absurd” to claim that Russia’s veto on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) draft resolution about setting up an worldwide tribunal for the MH17 crash means Moscow effectively admitted its guilt, Peskov told reporters.
Russian Federation exercised its veto. Three countries abstained from the vote: China, Angola and Venezuela, whose ambassador said victims’ suffering shouldn’t be used politically.
Moscow denies involvement and instead accuses Ukraine’s military.
“Its actions reinforce concerns Russian Federation is protecting the perpetrators and continuing to assault the sovereignty of Ukraine“.
“What are the grounds to be assured of the impartiality of such an investigation?” He asked how it could resist an “aggressive backdrop of propaganda in the media”.
Malaysia, the Netherlands, Australia, Ukraine and Belgium had expressed their support for such a tribunal and Malaysia had circulated the draft resolution.
“Russia had an opportunity to join the global community in this effort”.
“It is hard to explain how the event, which wasn’t considered a threat to global peace and security a year ago, now suddenly becomes one”, he said.
“International criminals must be punished despite their high positions”, he added.
“There cannot and will not be impunity”. There were 39 Australians on board flight MH17. “The veto only compounds the atrocity”, she said. Ms Bishop said “the anticipated excuses and obfuscation by the Russian Federation should be treated with the utmost disdain”.
“Foreign Minister Koenders has been in talks with various parties in New York yesterday and today and will address the Security Council about the resolution at today’s session”, the communique says.
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“This tribunal is about the truth”.
