Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a briefing in Moscow yesterday, Censor.NET reports citing UNIAN.

"Why we are against the establishment of a tribunal? We believe that there are legitimate legal tribunals - they are created under the auspices of the United Nations. All the tribunals that are created beyond the United Nations are not legitimate for those countries which do not take part in them," Zakharova said.

She said that the establishment of any tribunals before completion of investigation "defies common sense".

Zakharova stressed that statements about the involvement of the Russian Federation in the air crash appeared immediately after the accident.

"This approach confirms only one thing - there is no desire to find out what has actually happened while there is an attempt to immediately cast the blame on those who has initially been assigned guilty," she said.

Read more: Dutch Foreign Minister does not rule out tribunal over MH17 crash



It was reported that Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down in the Donetsk region July 17, 2014. 298 people on board were killed. The passengers were citizens of 10 countries. The majority of victims (196) were Dutch citizens.

The Dutch Safety Board published a report on the causes of MH17 crash Oct. 13, 2015. It was found that the plane was shot down by surface-to-air missile Buk.

Malaysia submitted draft resolution to the UN Security Council on the establishment of an international tribunal to punish those guilty in the crash. Earlier, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ukraine put forward an initiative to create the tribunal.

See more: Russian officer Konstantin Mishkin from 53rd air defense missile brigade, which presumably downed MH17, awarded with St George's Cross. PHOTOS



Russia vetoed the resolution on the establishment of the international tribunal at a meeting of the UN Security Council July 29, 2015.

After the vote, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Bert Koenders said the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine will continue searching for mechanisms to bring to justice those who downed the aircraft.

Dec. 15, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Ukraine Case Klompenhauver said that the joint investigation team of Ukraine, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia and Belgium had not yet decided on the final format of the tribunal to hold accountable those, who shot down the Malaysian Boeing.