MOSCOW, July 25 (RIA Novosti) – The European Union has received information from the Russian Defense Ministry on the tragic Malaysian Airlines passenger jet crash in eastern Ukraine and is currently assessing it, EU Ambassador to Russia Vygaudas Ušackas told RIA Novosti on Friday.
“[Russian Envoy to the EU Vladimir] Chizhov sent the [Russian] Defense Ministry’s information to my colleagues in Brussels and we’ve just received it. I have no guess as to when and what assessment we will give [it], but an assessment of the information is currently underway,” Ušackas said in the interview.
Earlier, Vygaudas Ušackas called for full access to the crash site.
“We hope for Russia’s constructive support – both on the access to the crash site and unbiased and full study of all the circumstances,” he said.
The international investigation team of 24 experts led by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) continues to work on analyzing data from Boeing 777 black boxes.
"The international investigation team has conducted a thorough examination of the Flight Data Recorder. The Flight Data Recorder was slightly damaged but the memory module was intact," the DSB said on its website on Thursday.
"Furthermore, no evidence or indications of manipulation of the recorder was found. Following the examination, the data was successfully downloaded and the Flight Data Recorder contained valid data of the flight," the safety authority concluded.
According to the DSB website, the data from both recorders will now be combined and analyzed further.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands is planning to send a team of 23 investigators accompanied by 40 unarmed police to the crash site, Agence France-Presse reported citing the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
A Malaysia Airlines plane heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed July 17 near the city of Donetsk in Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
Kiev has been blaming the independence supporters in eastern Ukraine for shooting down the plane. However, local militia leaders insist that they did not possess weapons capable of bringing down an aircraft flying at 32,000 feet.
United Nations, Russia and other countries stressed the importance of a transparent international investigation.
