The Netherlands has started talks with Ukraine regarding an investigation of Kiev's role in the MH17 crash, the Dutch Foreign Minister said.
"As for the investigation into the closure of airspace, it will be carried out by an independent investigative body. We have already started talking about this... The report [on the investigation] will be handed to the government and parliament of the Netherlands," Blok said during a joint briefing with his Ukrainian counterpart Vadym Prystaiko.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, an investigation of Kiev's role in the MH17 crash will be carried out by an independent organisation that will submit the results to the Dutch authorities.
The Dutch parliament previously unanimously backed the idea of investigating the role of Ukraine in the MH17 crash. And Moscow has repeatedly emphasised the fact that the Netherlands removed the blame for the non-closure of airspace over the war zone in eastern Ukraine from Kiev.
On 9 October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok discussed cooperation in investigating the crash of flight MH17.
The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 crashed on 17 July 2014 in eastern Ukraine while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people aboard, mostly Dutch citizens, Malaysians and Australians, were killed. Kiev blamed the incident on the self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine, while the latter said they had no weaponry to down a plane at such an altitude.
Even before the investigation started, the US, as well as some European nations, claimed that Russia should take responsibility for the MH17 crash.
The Netherlands set up a Joint Investigative Team (JIT) to probe the crash, leaving Russia out of the investigation. JIT concluded first that the MH17 was downed by a Buk missile, allegedly launched by a Russian anti-aircraft missile brigade stationed in the city of Kursk. However, the JIT refused to share evidence that would confirm this.
Moscow has repeatedly denied the JIT findings, calling the investigation biased. Russia also emphasised that after being denied access to the JIT's probe, it carried out its own investigation, which showed that it was an outdated projectile made in 1986 - belonging to Ukrainian forces - that downed the ill-fated plane. This evidence was, however, ignored by the Dutch side.
