Australian and Dutch government officials met with their Russian counterparts to hold discussions who claims the responsibility for the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok has said on Wednesday.
According to Reuters news reports, Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, en routed to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, was shot down over a territory held by the pro-Russian separatists in the eastern region of Ukraine, which has claimed the lives of about 298 people on board, where two-thirds were Dutch nationals.
In Sydney, Blok told reporters: “The first trilateral meeting has recently taken place.”
He said, “We cannot go into the content of the process because confidentiality is vital here, but I can say this – we remain committed to achieving truth, justice and accountability.”
Australian and Dutch government has said last year in May that they would hold Russia accountable for the responsibility of 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 after investigators traced the “Buk” missile system which they said had been used to shot down the aircraft to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade, located in Kursk city in western Russia.
At that time, Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, has claimed that the Malaysian aircraft was not shot down by a Russian missile