MOSCOW, July 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said Monday that Ukraine’s security council violated international disclosure rules by its recent comments about the content of the crashed Malaysian Boeing’s black boxes.
“The Ukrainian side violates the basic principles of air disaster investigation cooperation among the parties involved,” Rosaviatsiya’s deputy chief and head of the Russian expert group in the UK, Oleg Storchevoi, said in a statement.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Andriy Lysenko, said earlier in the day that the data retrieved from the crashed Boeing’s black boxes indicates that the aircraft crashed following a massive decompression caused by a missile strike. He cited information allegedly obtained from members of an international expert panel investigating the crash.
“We would like to note the inadmissibility of such comments made by any side involved in the investigation, because it does not contribute to a calm, unbiased and professional work to establish the cause of the air disaster,” Storchevoi stressed.
The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) in charge of the investigation was initially to unveil its findings on August 1, according to the UK’s Independent newspaper.
The British daily claimed Dutch officials had been stunned by Lysenko’s “premature” disclosure during a press conference, although they did not confirm the theory. It said further that Ukraine’s source is now under scrutiny after the board said it hadn’t shared any information with Kiev.
“I can’t make a comment on what source Mr. Lysenko has… We don’t want to confirm or say anything about the information on the black boxes right now; this in the best interest of the investigation itself,” The Independent cited DSB spokeswoman Sara Vernooij as saying Monday.
UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has been asked to assist the board in retrieving information from the two flight data recorders.
Malaysia Airlines MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17. All 298 people on board, including 192 Dutch nationals, died in the crash.
The plane’s two black boxes were recovered by Ukrainian independence supporters from the crashed Boeing and given to Malaysian authorities last week. They were then sent to the UK for a comprehensive analysis.
