UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – According to Vitaly Churkin, the draft resolution, prepared by the Malaysian delegation, classifies the crash as a threat to international peace and stability, despite the fact that a single incident cannot be classified that way.
"Personally, I do not see any perspectives for these documents. They need to be put aside, we need to wait for the results of the investigation and then think on how to effectively organize criminal proceedings."
The Russian envoy pointed out that international tribunals have never been created following civilian aircraft crashes, some of which were not criminally investigated at all.
On July 17, 2014, flight MH17 was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it crashed in southeastern Ukraine (Donbass). All 298 people on board the aircraft died in the crash.
Independence supporters and Kiev forces, which launched a military operation in Ukraine’s southeast in April 2014, have accused each other of causing the tragedy.
The Dutch Safety Board, investigating the circumstances surrounding the plane crash, has completed a draft report on the incident. The countries taking part in the investigation received the document on June 2, and have two months to provide comments on it before the final report is published in October.
According to a September 2014 preliminary report by the Dutch Safety Board, MH17 broke up in the air after being hit by multiple objects from outside the airframe.
In June, Russian arms manufacturer Almaz-Antey unveiled the results of its own inquiry, showing that flight MH17 was downed by a guided missile launched by a Buk-M1 system. The particular missile has not been produced in Russia since 1999, but remains in service in the Ukrainian army, according to Almaz-Antey.
