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Vladimir Putin

Incoming information gives serious grounds to doubt that the Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash investigation has been conducted in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 2166 by the Netherlands authorities, namely that this investigation is comprehensive, thorough, independent and has a truly international character. More questions arise in terms of its compliance to the applicable ICAO regulations and standards.

The Russian side notes the lack of transparency in the organisation of investigation. Meanwhile, the assurances of transparency were given, in particular, during the recent consultations in the UN Security Council.

There is an impression that the genuine goal of the investigation is not to identify the causes of the crash, but to generate a version of the accident, which is convenient for the US and its allies, imposing on Russia the responsibility for the 17 July tragedy and creating a basis for toughening the anti-Russian sanctions.

We regard this as one of the major reasons for the delay in preparation of the report by the group of international experts on the investigation of the causes of the plane crash, for the appearance of controversial information on the timing of its publication, the “decline of interest” by the Western countries in examination of the debris of the aircraft, etc, – all that against the background of continued critical rhetoric against Russia.

The Russian side is also disappointed by the passive position of the ICAO, whose leadership is obviously under pressure of the USA and its allies.
In order to divert the attention of the ICAO members from the investigation and to set without waiting for its outcomes, «the necessary» vector to the ICAO discussion on the consequences of the airplane crash in Ukraine, the Anglo-Saxons inspired «the decision» taken by the ICAO secretary-general (out of his mandate) on convocation of the «Special purposes Group of International Experts to estimate the risks of the civil aviation safety in conflict zones.

The Russian side sees in that step the attempt to cement under a plausible pretext in the international aviation community the opinion in favour of the airplane crash version which has been promoted by the West. Thereby an undesirable precedent of the ICAO mechanisms use for the political purposes outside its legal framework has been creating. Taking all this into account, the competent Russian authorities are working on a set of measures to promote the full and objective international investigation including through the United Nations, the ICAO, bilateral channels with the Netherlands and other countries, and by putting the issues, arising from organisation and conducting of the investigation, on the agenda of the forthcoming (ordinary and extraordinary) session of the ICAO Council. – RIA Novosti.