Russia should pay compensation to the families of the 38 Australians killed by the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, according to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Key points: Australia announces it holds Russia responsible under international law for bringing down MH17

Australia announces it holds Russia responsible under international law for bringing down MH17 298 people including 38 Australians were killed when the Malaysian Airlines jet was shot down in July 2014

298 people including 38 Australians were killed when the Malaysian Airlines jet was shot down in July 2014 Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says Australia and the Netherlands want Russia to pay reparations

Official investigators are now convinced the Russian Federation's 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade was responsible for the missile attack.

As a result, Australia and the Netherlands have told Russia they hold it legally responsible for the shooting down of the passenger plane.

Ms Bishop said the families of victims want to see Russia held to account.

"They want to see closure but they also deserve justice and we will be seeking reparations for the atrocities caused by this conduct," Ms Bishop said.

"We hold it responsible under international law for its role in the bringing down of MH17."

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the Netherlands and Australia had "asked Russia to enter into talks aimed at finding a solution that would do justice to the tremendous suffering and damage caused by the downing of MH17".

He said Russia had so far failed to cooperate "at all" with the criminal investigation into the incident.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that Russia had not been a fully-fledged participant in the Dutch investigation into the incident and could not therefore trust its findings.

When asked if the Kremlin denied allegations of Russian involvement, he said: "Absolutely."

Mr Peskov referred a question about possible compensation for families of the victims to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Thirty eight Australians were among the 298 people killed when MH17 was shot down. ( Reuters: Maxim Zmeyev )

The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down on July 17, 2014.

All 298 people on board were killed.

The plane came down just 50 kilometres from the Ukraine-Russia border, in an area which was the scene of fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatist rebels.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it had nothing to do with the downing of the plane, Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.

On Friday, citizen journalist group Bellingcat said it knew the identity of a key person of interest being sought by the Dutch-led team investigating the downing of MH17.

Oleg Vladimirovich Ivannikov, who Bellingcat claimed was a key person of interest sought by the MH17 investigation team. ( Supplied )

At a press conference in The Hague, Bellingcat accused Russian citizen Oleg Vladimirovich Ivannikov of being the person the Joint Investigating Team (JIT) is seeking, but knew only by the code names "Orion" and "Andrey Ivanovich".

The group claimed Mr Ivannikov was a Russian officer at the time MH17 was shot down and worked undercover in the so-called Luhansk People's Republic, saying he "coordinated and supervised the military activities of Russian militants, pro-Russian separatists and "private army" contingents … [and] also supervised the procurement and transport of weapons across the Russia-Ukraine border".

On Thursday, the JIT concluded a Russian-manufactured missile was responsible for shooting the passenger jet out of the sky over Eastern Ukraine.

Russia's military denied any anti-aircraft missile units ever crossed the border between Russia and Ukraine, according to a report from TASS news agency.

The Australian Government announced in the May budget it would put $50 million over four years towards the prosecution costs of bringing those responsible to justice.

Investigators displayed the remnants of the Buk missile used to down MH17 during their latest press conference on May 24, 2017. ( ABC News: Lisa Millar )

ABC/AP