It has been a while since I returned to the topic of MH-17 downing in Ukraine when it was established that It was a Ukrainian BUK missile that shot down MH-17. A bizarre case where the most likely culprit – Ukraine – sits among the judges, while a bystander – Russia – is being accused of the wrongdoing without any evidence, while any factual evidence not in line with the Russia-bashing narrative is dismissed.
Russia has had enough of this Western charade and is exiting the three-way talks, for which the Russian ambassador to Netherlands have been summoned: how come Russia refuses to be the West’s favourite beating-boy!
Russia’s Foreign Ministry believes it’s “impossible” for Moscow to continue consultations with the Netherlands and Australia on the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, as they are not interested in uncovering the truth.
Instead, in a Thursday morning statement, Russian diplomats accused the two countries of seeking only to blame Moscow, and arriving at the process with a preconceived outcome.
It added that Russia agreed to trilateral consultations two years ago, hoping that these would help establish, based on hard facts, the true reasons behind the 2014 tragedy. The Boeing 777 crash, which occurred six years ago, during the hot phase of the war in Eastern Ukraine, took 298 lives, with 193 victims from the Netherlands and 27 from Australia.
But, according to the ministry, the Dutch and Australian governments had other goals in mind, as they only wanted “Russia to be declared the guilty party and compensation paid to the relatives of those that died,” the statement outlined.
A very good Op-Ed by Neil Clark dives deeper into the background for the withdrawal:
Plane bias: Russia’s decision to quit MH17 panel a logical result of Dutch provocations
Russia’s decision to quit the three-sided consultations with the Netherlands and Australia on flight MH17 is not surprising. It’s surprising that Moscow hasn’t done this earlier, having been declared guilty from day one.
Almost as soon as the terrible news came out on 17th July 2014 that a passenger airliner had come down over eastern Ukraine with the loss of all 298 people on board, the fingers of blame in the West were pointing at Russia, and the Kremlin was declared guilty until proven innocent.
‘Putin’s Missile’ was the headline of the Sun newspaper, implying that the Russian President had personally fired the missile which allegedly downed the airliner. ‘MH17: Can Russia be held to account?’ asked The Economist – again implying it was a foregone conclusion who was responsible.
Russia’s guilt was already established – before any inquiry was held – and even saying ‘let’s wait a while before we see more evidence’ could bring you under attack as part of ‘Putin’s lie machine.’
That has more or less been the case ever since.
…
Let us hope that for the sake of the relatives of the victims – and for the justice to be served – the real perpetrators of this downing are uncovered.