Dutch Gov't Not Commenting on Calls to Unveil Radar Data in MH17 Crash Case

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — Relatives of MH17 victims sent a letter to Prime Minister Rutte on Wednesday, asking him to do more to get hold of Ukrainian, Russian and US radar images of the scene made at the time of the crash, in hope they would shed light on who launched the missile that allegedly struck the plane down.

The Malaysian passenger plane crashed in southeastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing 298 people on board, most of them Dutch nationals. The Dutch public prosecution has been at the helm of the international team probing the suspected downing.

"The criminal investigation is still ongoing," the Dutch Government Information Service said. "In this phase the Dutch cabinet can’t make any comments on (issues that relate to) the investigation of the prosecution services in the Joint Investigation Team."

The service, which is a spokesbody for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, stressed that the criminal probe was being conducted independently.

Dutch investigators published a report last October that said the airliner appeared to have been downed using a Russia-produced Buk surface-to-air missile system. It was unable to identify the exact location from where the missile was fired.