There are “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the transfer of the Russian missile system that downed a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet in eastern Ukraine in 2014, according to a Dutch prosecutor.
Digna van Boetzelaer said on Wednesday that intercepted phone calls showed Putin personally sealed off arms transfers to Russian-backed separatists fighting in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine where MH17 was shot down Was.
“The investigation has now reached its limit,” van Boetzelaer told a news conference in The Hague. “The findings are insufficient for prosecution of new suspects,” meaning Putin and other Russian officials will not be subject to criminal investigation.
referring to the ruling, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte wrote on Twitter: “We will not stop. Since 2014 we have become all too familiar with the pattern of obstructionism, untruths and injustice from Russia and its President Putin.” Rutte said the Dutch state was “set out to establish the truth and achieve justice and accountability”. committed to.
The Boeing 777 was flying from the Dutch capital to Kuala Lumpur when it was struck by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile in July 2014 during clashes between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Russia has denied any involvement in the downing of this plane despite the Dutch court convicted Two former Russian intelligence agents and a Ukrainian separatist leader were murdered in absentia for their involvement.
In January, a Dutch court ruled that the Netherlands may bring a case before the European Court of Human Rights over the downing of the flight. It was argued that Russia was responsible for the crash because of its support for the self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.