NATO Calls on Russia to Accept Responsibility for MH17 Crash

Photo from Ukrinform – UATV

NATO calls on Russia to accept responsibility for the MH17 crash and to cooperate with efforts to hold the perpetrators accountable.

On Friday NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made the statement, a Brussels-based Ukrinform correspondent reported.

In 2014, a Boeing-777 passenger airplane, owned by Malaysia Airlines, was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by Russian-backed militants in Donbas using a missile from Kursk, Russia. All 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers aboard the plane died.

After a four year investigation, the Dutch-led team investigating the crash announced Thursday that it was Russia’s 53rd Anti-aircraft brigade that shot down the plane.

Both the Netherlands and Australia have announced that they hold Russia responsible and will seek compensation. The United States, Canada, and Ukraine have also denounced Russia, which had claimed innocence.

“The downing of MH17 was a global tragedy,” Stoltenberg said, “and those responsible must be held accountable. NATO has repeatedly expressed its full support for the efforts undertaken by the Dutch authorities and others to shed light on what happened on that terrible day, and to achieve justice for the 298 people who were killed and their loved ones.”