BRISBANE, November 15 (Sputnik) — Russia is interested in a thorough investigation of Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight crash in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow has nothing to hide, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday.
“A series of open questions remain. If we had anything to hide, let’s put it this way, we wouldn’t probably have such a sharp interest to reveal all the facts and to do it without delay,” Ryabkov told journalists.
There are serious grounds to believe that the United States is involved in artificial hampering of MH17 crash investigation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said.
"Regarding the Malaysia Airlines Boeing crash investigation, everything is upside down. We have serious reasons to believe that the United States is involved in artificial hampering of the tragedy investigation," Ryabkov told the journalists.
"If we did not have enough grounds for such conclusions, we would not put the issue straight before US representatives, including on the political level. Russia, on its part, has done a lot to go ahead with the investigation," Ryabkov said.
"The information that we obtained was passed to the appropriate international commission. We keep in permanent contact with authorities and specialized organizations in Netherlands, which is the leading country in the investigation. It was us [Russia], not the United States, Netherlands, Ukraine, Malaysia or Australia, who contributed to engaging International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as an expert organization in the investigation," the diplomat stressed.
He noted that the preliminary investigation report appeared several months later than planned and the final report will only be issued next year.
"We [Russia] have no complete understanding of what and how is being done, if there are any changes to the investigation process. It worries us," Ryabkov stated.
On July 17, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
According to a preliminary report issued by the Dutch Safety Board early in September, the plane most likely broke up in mid-air as a result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from the outside.
Kiev accused independence supporters in eastern Ukraine of shooting the plane down, but has not provided any evidence to back this claim. The local militia leaders said that they do not have weapons capable of shooting down a plane flying at 32,000 feet.
Moscow has repeatedly highlighted an importance of a thorough, transparent international investigation into the incident.
On Thursday, Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan said that the investigation into the MH17 crash will be extended until August 2015.
The joint inquiry team into the crash includes the Netherlands, Ukraine, Australia, Belgium and Malaysia, as well as other international partners.
