Historic decision on the downed flight in Ukraine in 2014: UN holds Russia responsible
There were 298 people on the civilian plane that was hit by a missile.
BarcelonaThe International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) council holds Russia responsible for having shot down the flight with a missile in 2014 Malaysia Airlines MH17, which was traveling between Amsterdam and Malaysia with 298 people on board. It is a historic resolution: it is the first time that the UN body has issued a resolution of this type within the framework of its dispute settlement mechanism between states.
In a statement published this morning, the body says that "the Russian Federation breached its obligations under international air law in the downing of flight MH17." A conclusion that the Kremlin has already officially rejected this Tuesday morning and has described as "biased," in the words of Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Australia and the Netherlands had filed complaints with ICAO over the 2014 surface-to-air missile attack on flight MH17 over Ukraine, which killed 298 people, including 196 Dutch nationals and two others. Pro-Russian separatists from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) fired the missile, a Russian-supplied Buk anti-aircraft system.
Australia and the Netherlands argued that the attacks constituted a violation of Article 3 bis of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which requires states to "refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight." In 2022, a Dutch court sentenced Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko to life imprisonment for the murder of the 298 people on board the flight. Russia has refused to hand them over.
The ICAO notes that it will issue a formal decision at a future meeting, "which will outline the factual and legal grounds that led to the Council's conclusions."
Zelensky will only negotiate with Putin
The news is a setback for Russia at a crucial moment for negotiations with Ukraine. After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accepted Moscow's proposal this Sunday to sit down with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin is trying to buy time. Its spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov yesterday dodged the question of whether Putin would attend Istanbul this Thursday, looking for a way to decline the offer without the United States being able to accuse him of resisting peace negotiations.. This Tuesday morning, journalists again pressed Peskov's daily press conference, and the spokesman avoided giving details: "As soon as the president [Putin] decides, we will announce it," he said when asked who the Russian envoy to Thursday's meeting would be.
This morning, Zelensky again made it clear that he will only participate in Thursday's talks if he can hold a face-to-face meeting with his counterpart Vladimir Putin, and not other members of the Russian delegation. Also this morning, Putin participated in an event with business leaders and avoided the question of the possible Thursday meeting, but he wanted to make it clear that he is not afraid of the threats of sanctions from European governments if he does not want to negotiate an agreement. "There is no need to be afraid [of sanctions]. Whoever starts to get scared loses," he said.
Just yesterday, Monday, Donald Trump unexpectedly offered to join the talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey: "I have a lot of meetings, but I was thinking about flying. There's a possibility, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we have to do it," he declared. before heading to Saudi ArabiaHowever, this Tuesday, Trump announced that his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will travel to Türkiye to participate in the talks between Russia and Ukraine, regardless of the interlocutors.