MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow regrets that the initiators of creating an international tribunal to investigate last year’s MH17 plane crash in eastern Ukraine politicized the issue and hastened to bring this resolution to a UN vote, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Russia vetoed the UN Security Council resolution to create the tribunal, having repeatedly stressed that the initiative is premature and counterproductive.
"We regret that the initiators of the terminated session ignored our suggestion. Instead they chose to hastily bring their option of creating the international tribunal without discussing other means," the ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, Russia’s warnings about the premature and counterproductive nature of the tribunal were ignored.
"In these circumstances the Russian Federation, which tried to prevent the split in the UN Security Council in all ways possible and transfer the issue to a more constructive direction, did not find it possible to pass a politicized decision, forced on the Security Council, by voting against it," the statement said.
Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council draft resolution on Wednesday that would have set up an international tribunal to prosecute those suspected of downing the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 last year in eastern Ukraine.
An initiative to establish a tribunal was proposed by Malaysia in July, and backed by Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ukraine. The same month, Russia proposed a resolution to bring extra UN involvement to investigating the causes of the crash.
The preliminary report by the Dutch Safety Board suggested that the plane broke up in mid-air after being hit by numerous high-energy objects that had penetrated it from the outside. A final report is expected to be released in October.
