Netherlands Trying To Conceal Data On MH17 Crash Investigation - Russian Foreign Ministry

The Dutch authorities are trying to conceal data on the investigation into the 2014 MH17 flight crash in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) The Dutch authorities are trying to conceal data on the investigation into the 2014 MH17 flight crash in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

According to Zakharova, since 2015, three Dutch media outlets have been trying to make the Cabinet publish all the transcripts of its meetings on the MH17 investigation but last week, the country's Council of State supported the position of the government, which refused to issue the materials.

"Are we witnessing the Dutch authorities' attempt to conceal everything that is not proving the official explanation of the causes of the MH17 crash?" Zakharova said.

On July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Donbas. All 298 passengers and crew on board died. Kiev accused local militias of downing the aircraft, while they said that had no weapons capable of downing such a plane.

The interim conclusions presented by the Dutch-led international Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which does not include Russia, suggested that the plane had been downed by a Russian-made Buk missile originating with a military brigade stationed in the Russian city of Kursk.

According to Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolay Vinnichenko, Russia sent to the JIT the data showing that the missile that hit the Boeing was a Ukrainian one, but this information was not taken into account.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the JIT allegations of Russia's links to the crash were groundless and regrettable, adding that the investigation was biased and one-sided. Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that Russia was not allowed to participate in the investigation into the crash, and Moscow could recognize the results of the probe only in case of its full participation in it.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that all missiles like the one, whose engine was showed by the Dutch investigative commission, had been decommissioned after 2011.