A former White House official says the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine last year was a plot hatched in Washington and implemented with the help of the government in Kiev in order to implicate Russia.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, who was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday.

On July 17, 2014, the Boeing 777-200 passenger plane crashed in Ukraine’s conflict zone, killing all 298 people aboard. According to US intelligence and military officials, the plane was hit by a Russian SA-series missile launched from eastern Ukraine.

A preliminary report released in the Netherlands last year stated the airliner had no technical problems in the moments before it crashed in the sky after being struck by multiple objects. But Dutch investigators still have not released the detailed findings of their investigation.

This week, Russia used its veto at the United Nations to block a draft resolution to establish an international tribunal into the MH17 disaster, fearing that as the facts don't support the US propaganda that Russia is responsible for the crash, Washington is pushing a UN tribunal on the incident to get the desired results.

“I believe Washington is responsible. I don’t know whether it was a formal government decision or just a decision of some rogue part of it, because it served to put pressure on Russia,” Dr. Roberts said.

“It served to help Washington convince the Europeans to go along with sanctions. And it proved to be very effective propaganda against Russia,” he added.

“I noticed that neither Washington nor the government in Kiev have released the information that they had. Kiev refuses to release the communications of Ukrainian air control with the airliner - we don’t know whether the airliner was diverted or pulled towards the combat zone,” he stated.

“And Washington which had a satellite over the airliner when it was destroyed refuses to release its information. Only Russia has released any information,” he noted.

Dr. Roberts went on to say that “now we have the fact that the report of the investigation conducted by the Dutch apparently cannot be released. It seems Washington has blocked the release.”

“And instead of release, we get Washington planning leaks in the media about what the report says… and leaks of the report - as always - found that Russia is responsible,” he pointed out.

The analyst said the Dutch investigators deny that Russia is responsible, “but their denial doesn’t get the attention that the accusation does.”

“So it seems clear that it’s a mechanism used against Russia. And therefore it serves only Washington, and Washington’s puppet regime in Kiev. So I am certain that Washington and Kiev are clearly responsible,” Dr. Roberts concluded.