Russia will not recognize the "illegitimate" decision of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council on Moscow's responsibility for the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014. This was stated in a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
ICAO considers Russia responsible for the crash of the passenger plane and the violation of the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation.
„Russia will not recognize the Council's decision; it is illegitimate and contradicts the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation and its own procedural rules. Unlike the biased majority in the Council, Russia remains committed to UN Security Council Resolution 2166 (2014) and the cause of establishing the true causes of the plane crash,“ the diplomatic department emphasizes.
“Russia did not participate in the said proceedings last year – on June 17, 2024 – since there could be no talk of an impartial establishment of the facts in the context of numerous procedural violations by the Council and the ICAO Secretariat. At the same time, Moscow's principled position remains relevant – "Russia is not involved in the crash of flight MH17 and all allegations to the contrary by Australia and the Netherlands are false," the statement said.
According to the ministry, Ukraine refused to completely close the airspace over the war zone, using civilian passenger aircraft - such as the Malaysian Boeing MH17 - to cover its bombers in 2014, which led to the plane crash.
"It was Kiev that refused to completely close the airspace over the war zone, using civilian passenger aircraft - such as MH17 - to cover its bombers," the statement said.
This led to the downing of flight MH1 in the Donetsk region, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry added that Moscow stopped participating in the production back in June 2024, because given the numerous procedural violations by the Council and the secretariat of the International Civil Aviation Organization "there could be no question of impartial fact-finding".
Russia's fundamental position still stands - Russia was not involved in the MH17 crash and the claims of the Netherlands and Australia to the contrary are not true.