They urged Russia to uphold the proposal and vote for a UN Security Council draft resolution on the issue.
"The Russian side… has reiterated its commitment to the implementation by all sides of the Russia-initiated UNSC resolution 2166 that ensures a full, thorough and independent investigation into the crash and demands that those responsible be brought to justice," the ministry said.
Flight MH17 was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it came down in southeastern Ukraine last summer killing all 298 people on board the aircraft. Both Donbass independence supporters and Kiev have repeatedly accused each other of downing the plane.
The statement continued, saying the Foreign Ministry had "underscored prematurity and counter-productivity of raising the issue of establishing an international tribunal on the MH17 catastrophe" and called "to return to the legal framework of Resolution 2166 that remains the sole acceptable premise for international cooperation on determining the cause behind the Malaysian airliner crash."
The UN Security Council will discuss the proposal to create an MH17 tribunal into the 2014 crash later this week, a source in the UNSC told RIA Novosti last Friday.
Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin earlier recommended to wait for the final results of the investigation by the Dutch Safety Board.
