UN aviation agency finds Russia responsible for downing of MH17

MONTREAL: The UN aviation agency blamed Russia on Tuesday for the downing of a Malaysian jetliner over Ukraine in 2014, leading to the deaths of 298 people. Australia and the Netherlands, the countries with most fatalities in the tragedy, quickly called for Russia to assume responsiblity for the downing and pay damages.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), based in Montreal, said claims brought by Australia and the Netherlands over the shooting down of Flight MH17 on July 17 of that year were “well founded in fact and in law.”

“The Russian Federation failed to uphold its obligations under international air law in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17,” the agency said in a statement issued Monday evening.

The ICAO said this was the first time in its history that its council has made a determination on the merits of a dispute between member states. On July 17, 2014 the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 -- en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur -- was hit by a Russian-made BUK surface to air missile over eastern Ukraine´s Donetsk region, where pro-Russian separatist rebels were battling Ukrainian forces.

Dutch nationals accounted for two-thirds of the dead, along with 38 Australians and about 30 Malaysians, with many victims having dual nationalities. Then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called it a “terrorist act.”

Pro-Russian rebels in the area claimed the airliner was shot down by a Ukrainian military jet. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine “bears responsibility.” The following day, then US president Barack Obama said a missile fired from separatist-held territory was to blame and the rebels would not have been able to hit the airliner without Russian support.

In 2022 a Dutch court sentenced three men to life in prison over the downing, among them two Russians, but Russia refused to extradite them. Russia has consistently denied any involvement in the tragedy.

In 2023 a team of international investigators from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine said there were “strong indications” that Putin had approved the supplying of the missile that down the jetliner.