UNITED NATIONS, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russia welcomes the decision by the Netherlands to have a leading role in investigating the July 17 crash of a Malaysian passenger plane in eastern Ukraine, the country’s envoy to the UN said.
“I think it is good news that we heard today that the Netherlands has taken a leading role in this investigation… We may hope that its leadership allows carrying out a truly unbiased international investigation that we have been seeking from the very beginning,” Vitaly Churkin said after the UN Security Council meeting.
Speaking at the UN Security Council, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans announced that his country that suffered the most fatalities in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight would head the probe in cooperation with the United Nations and ICAO.
Churkin said the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) should have a leading role in the investigation. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk earlier suggested he could lead the effort.
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 airliner en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near Donetsk on July 17. All 298 people on board the airliner died, including 283 passengers and 15 crew members.
More than half of the known victims or 189 were Dutch, and there were also victims from many other nations, including Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Philippines.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Monday demanding that those responsible for this incident be held to account and all military activities be immediately ceased near the crash site to allow for security and safety of the international probe.
