MOSCOW, Oct 14: Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke denied allegations that Malaysia was influenced by Russia when declaring that there was no conclusive evidence to confirm that the country was responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
“I categorically and strongly deny the wild accusations against us. I have never been in contact with the Russians. My comments are based on the advice of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” TASS reported, quoting the Malaysiakini news portal.
Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777 performing flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in the east of the war-torn Donetsk region of Ukraine on July 17, 2014, in the zone of active fighting. 283 passengers and 15 crew members – citizens of 10 states, were killed in the crash.
The Kiev Government kept open an international flightpath over the armed conflict zone where several aircraft had already been shot down there with the aid of antiaircraft weapons. On May 24, 2018, experts of the Joint Investigative Team (JIT), comprising Australia, Belgium, Malaysia,
The Netherlands and Ukraine, published an interim report where they alleged that the flight was downed by a missile launched from an anti-aircraft system.
The report also claim that the mount had arrived from the 53rd Antiaircraft Brigade deployed near the southwestern Russian city of Kursk. Russia has repeatedly turned down all the charges put forward by the JIT. The Defence Ministry said not a single air defence complex had ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border. Russian experts also said they had managed to identify the missile that had downed the jet. (UNI)
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