Favourite Mischiefs Won’t be Investigated

Russia keeps insisting on probe into all circumstances of Malaysian Boeing crash

Russia

 December 24, 23:20 UTC+3
Russian diplomat Konstantin Dolgov declined to comment on new data in the press regarding this air crash

© ITAR-TASS/Konstantin Sazonchik

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. Russia keeps insisting on investigation of all circumstances of the Malaysian Boeing crash in the Donetsk Region in eastern Ukraine in summer, a senior Russian diplomat said Wednesday when asked about the appearance of a new witness in the case.

“Our position remains unchanged. We speak for clarification of all circumstances of that tragedy, the reasons behind the Boeing’s crash,” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights, democracy and rule of law, Konstantin Dolgov, said on the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

Investigative Committee says new evidence exists in Boeing crash case

Earlier, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said investigators have received evidence of involvement of a Ukrainian military aircraft in the Malaysian Boeing’s crash.

© TASS Archive/Zurab Dzhavakhadze

Russian Investigative Committee analyzing evidence in case of Malaysian Boeing crash

Russian investigators on Tuesday evening questioned a Ukrainian serviceman who earlier gave an interview to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper on the Boeing crash. In line with his testimony, the Boeing 777 could have been shot down by a Su-25 of Ukraine’s Air Force flown by Ukraine Air Force pilot surnamed Voloshin.

But the SBU said Voloshin had not flown on the day when the Boeing crashed in the Donetsk Region.

Markin said that “as the witness may be endangered, the investigation is considering granting him state protection under a witness protection program.” He said that if “representatives of the international commission investigating the air crash are interested in establishing the truth and turn to us, we are ready to provide [them with] all available materials.”

Dolgov voices concerns

Dolgov declined to comment on new data in the press regarding the air crash saying the case is being addressed by Russia’s Investigative Committee.

The diplomat also pointed to a lack of progress in investigation of a number of crimes committed in Ukraine this year, including the “snipers case” (when snipers were shooting at protesters and police in Kiev during riots in February) and the tragedy when people were burned alive in the Trade Unions House in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa in May.

“We do not see grounds why a serious investigation could not be conducted. Numerous statements by Kiev officials were heard that foreign experts would be involved. Nothing of the kind has happened, no one has been punished,” Dolgov said.

“All this makes us think the Ukrainian authorities have something to hide,” he said.

Boeing crash

On July 17, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 passenger airliner on flight MH17 from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur crashed in the Donetsk Region in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Most passengers - over 190 people - were Dutch nationals.

The Dutch Safety Board, which is leading the probe and coordinating the international team of investigators, said in its preliminary report published September 9 that “flight MH17 with a Boeing 777-200 operated by Malaysia Airlines 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 outside.”

A final report is due to be published within a year following the crash.

Odessa tragedy

The southern Ukrainian city of Odessa saw riots on May 2, during which soccer fans from other cities, as well as Right Sector militants and so-called “Maidan self-defense” representatives from Kiev organized a march along city streets. Clashes with federalization supporters occurred during the march.

© EPA/ITAR-TASS/OLIVIER HOSLET

Group of MEPs to demand pressure on Kiev in order to investigate Odessa massacre

Radicals set ablaze the Trade Unions House, where their opponents hid, and a tent camp where activists were collecting signatures for a referendum on Ukraine’s federalization and for the status of a state language for Russian. The attackers did not let anyone leave the burning Trade Unions House building.

At least 48 people died and 247 were injured in the clashes and the fire in the Trade Unions House. Another 48 people were listed as missing. Some Ukrainian politicians asserted that the death toll reached 116 but that the Kiev authorities concealed the facts. Investigators have so far failed to name those guilty of the crime…

Read more at: http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/769058