EU, NATO urge Russia to 'accept responsibility' for MH17

by Staff Writers Brussels (AFP) May 25, 2018 AFP

The EU and NATO urged Russia on Friday to take responsiblity for the 2014 downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine after international investigators concluded that a missile which destroyed the plane came from a Russian military brigade.

The 28-nation European Union and the 29-country US-led military alliance issued statements on the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane hours after the Netherlands and Australia said they both held Moscow liable.

"The European Union calls on the Russian Federation to accept its responsibility and to fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability," the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.

She said the joint investigation that announced its findings on Thursday "concluded that the BUK installation used to bring down flight MH17 belonged beyond doubt to the armed forces of the Russian Federation".

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a separate statement: "I call on Russia to accept responsibility and fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability."

Former Norwegian prime minister Stoltenberg said MH17 was a "global tragedy and those responsible must be held accountable".

The probe concluded that the Russian-made BUK missile which smashed into the Boeing 777 in mid-air on July 17, 2014 came from a brigade based in Kursk.

All 298 people on board the flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed when the missile slammed into the plane as it flew over territory held by pro-Russian rebels.

Most of the dead were Dutch, but there were 17 nationalities including Australians on board.