Ukrainian President Zelenskyy welcomes the verdict against three defendants in the trial of the MH17 passenger plane that crashed in 2014. However, he suspects the backers in Moscow. Russia, on the other hand, senses a political motivation behind the guilty verdict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the verdict on the downing of Malaysian passenger flight MH17 over embattled eastern Ukraine as "important". "But it is necessary to hold the client accountable," the 44-year-old wrote on Twitter, making it clear that he saw the Russian leadership as responsible. Impunity would lead to new crimes, he added, alluding to Russia's war of aggression against his country, which launched at the end of February. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of an "important moment" in efforts to bring about justice.
Russia has meanwhile rejected the guilty verdict as politically motivated. "Both the course and the results of the negotiations show that their political mission was to strengthen the version (...) of Russia's involvement in the tragedy," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Shortly before, a Dutch criminal court had found two Russians and one Ukrainian guilty of involvement in the July 2014 downing of the Boeing 717. The passenger plane crashed on the way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), all 298 occupants were killed. The majority of the passengers were Dutch citizens, which is why the trial took place in the Netherlands. According to the court, an anti-aircraft missile system from Russia was used.
It is considered unlikely that the convicts will serve their sentences. You are staying in Russia. According to a report by the TASS news agency, shortly after the verdict was announced, a representative of the Russian judiciary said that none of the convicted Russians would be extradited.
The Russian leadership has previously rejected the process and has always denied responsibility. "The negotiation in the Netherlands has every chance of going down in history as one of the most scandalous - with its long list of oddities, inconsistencies and questionable conclusions of the prosecution, which nevertheless flowed into the verdict," the Foreign Ministry criticized again at the end .
