Deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov says proposal backed by Netherlands and Malaysia is counterproductive and hasty

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A senior Russian official has rejected calls for the establishment of a UN tribunal to try those responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine last year.

Deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying: “We are against it. We think it is not timely and counterproductive.”

The Netherlands, Malaysia and three other countries want a UN tribunal to investigate the incident last July in which all 298 passengers and crew died.

The Boeing 777 passenger jet was travelling between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down in eastern Ukraine during some of the worst fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists, who took up arms against Kiev’s pro-western government a few months earlier.

Suspicions immediately fell on the separatists, who may have used a surface-to-air missile supplied by Russia to shoot down the plane.

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Moscow flatly denied any involvement and instead pointed the finger at the Ukrainian military.

The five countries of the joint investigation team – Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine – met last week in New York to discuss the proposed international tribunal.

Gatilov insisted the continuing investigation should be completed before any further steps are taken.

He said: “Now we must wait until the end of the investigation rather than adopt hasty resolutions on creating a tribunal.” Gatilov added that “the issue is very sensitive and serious and must be thoroughly studied”.