Russia vetoes UN resolution over flight MH17 crash
Russia has vetoed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution aimed at prosecuting those allegedly involved in the crash of flight MH17 over Ukraine last year.
On Wednesday, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin defended Moscow’s decision to veto the resolution, saying Russian investigators had not been allowed equal access to the site of the accident.
"What are the grounds to be assured of the impartiality of such an investigation?" Churkin asked during a speech addressing the council.
Eleven of the council’s 15 member states voted in favor of the resolution drafted by Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and Ukraine.
Britain, France, and the United States voted in favor of the resolution, while Angola, China, and Venezuela abstained.
The Malaysian Airlines plane crashed on July 17, 2014 over Ukraine’s volatile Donetsk region while en route from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. All 298 passengers and crew on board were killed. The crash occurred under unknown circumstances.
Western powers accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. However, Moscow has denied the allegation, blaming the Ukrainian military.
Following the latest move by Russia, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vowed to push for justice and punish those guilty of the crime.
A preliminary report released last year by the Netherlands, home to 196 of the victims, suggested the aircraft did not go down as a result of technical problems.
The plane crash happened as tensions between Kiev and Moscow had been escalating over the unrest in eastern Ukraine’s mostly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ukraine accuses Russia of instigating deadly unrest in the region, which broke out last April after pro-Russia protests were met with heavy crackdown by Kiev.
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