Russia is not trying to put in doubt the credibility of an international investigation of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane in eastern Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said Friday, Sept 19, according to RIA Novosti.
The UN Security Council held a meeting, requested by Russia, to make a fresh assessment of the investigation progress.
"Some of the statements today claimed that Russia is somehow trying to discredit the investigation carried out by the Dutch Safety Board," Churkin said commenting on the results of the meeting.
"It is completely untrue," he said.
On July 17, a Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk, killing all 298 people on board.
On Sept 9, the Dutch Safety Board issued a preliminary report on the MH17 crash, saying that the Malaysia Airlines flight broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from the outside.
Russia earlier said that the preliminary results of the probe had been inconclusive and not fully transparent. The Dutch Safety Board has also said it will provide a full report on the MH17 crash within a year, as soon as more details become available following a better investigation of the crash site.
However, full access to the crash site is still problematic, despite the holding ceasefire in Ukraine"s eastern regions as a result of the Sept 5 Contact Group talks in Minsk. Kiev and the militia have been consistently accusing each other of the ceasefire regime violation.
On July 17, a Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk, killing all 298 people on board.
The reason for the crash is still a matter of debate. Kiev accuses independence supporters in eastern Ukraine of shooting the plane down, but cannot provide any evidence for this assertion. The local militia leaders say they do not have weapons capable of shooting down a plane flying at 32,000 feet.
