UN aviation body holds Russia responsible for MH17 disaster
The United Nations’ aviation council has ruled that Russia was responsible for the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, in which 298 passengers and crew were killed, many of them Dutch.
The flight was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a Russian missile fired by pro-Russian separatists in 2014. Three men – two Russians and a Ukrainian – were found guilty of murder in absentia in 2022.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said on Monday evening that Russia “failed to uphold its obligations under international air law in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17”.
States are required to “refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight”, the agency said.
The Netherlands and Australia are now asking the ICAO Council to order Russia to begin negotiations over reparations, Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said in a statement.
“The decision is an important step towards establishing the truth and achieving justice and accountability for all victims of flight MH17, and their families and loved ones,” Veldkamp said. “This decision also sends a clear message to the international community: states cannot violate international law with impunity.”
The official investigation concluded in 2016 that the plane was shot down from Ukrainian farmland by a BUK missile ‘controlled by pro-Russian fighters’. That conclusion has been disputed by Russia, which claims that Ukrainian fighters were responsible.
The three men found guilty in 2022 were also ordered to pay a total of €16 million in compensation to the relatives of those who died.
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