MH17 disaster: Mahathir Mohamad claims Russia was scapegoated for Malaysia Airlines plane crash that left 298 people dead

The international investigative team set up to probe the crash said on Wednesday three Russians and one Ukrainian will face murder charges
MH17 was shot out of the sky on July 17, 2014, over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine

Mahathir Mohamad

Reuters

Published: 4:03pm, 20 Jun 2019

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday that Russia is being made a scapegoat for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and questioned the objectivity of the investigations into the 2014 disaster.

The international investigative team set up to probe the crash said on Wednesday three Russians and one Ukrainian will face murder charges for the deaths of 298 people on board the flight that was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

“We are very unhappy, because from the very beginning it was a political issue on how to accuse Russia of the wrongdoing,” Mahathir told reporters at a government event.

“Even before they examine, they already said Russia. And now they said they have proof. It is very difficult for us to accept that,” he said. “It is a ridiculous thing. As far as we are concerned we want proof of guilt.” So far there is no proof. Only hearsay.”

MH17 was shot out of the sky on July 17, 2014, over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Everyone on board was killed.

The Dutch-led international team named the four suspects as Russians Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Igor Girkin, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko. It said international arrest warrants for the four had been issued.

Netherlands to charge four suspects for murder over attack on MH17

Dutch Chief Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said the suspects were believed to be responsible for bringing a Russian-made missile into eastern Ukraine “with the aim to shoot down an aeroplane”.

Russia has said it regretted the crash investigation findings and called the murder charges against Russian suspects groundless.

The trial of the men with military and intelligence links will start in the Netherlands in March next year, although they are likely to be tried in absentia as neither Russia nor Ukraine extradites their nationals.

The Malaysian foreign ministry said in an earlier statement that it “appreciates” the announcement by the Dutch-led investigation team.

But it added that Malaysia is “committed to ensuring that the process is transparent, credible and effective. Our approach has always been that conclusions must be based on evidence, and not be politically motivated”.

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In Australia, Paul Guard, the son of MH17 victims Roger and Jill Guard, told ABC News he was glad the investigation has progressed. But he said he did not hold out much hope that the four men charged will face court.

The parents of another victim, Jack O’Brien, who was one of 38 Australians on the plane, said it was hard for them to even look at the photos of the four suspects.

“I also looked at the faces of the ... average soldiers from that brigade and wondered, you know, are any of them remorseful for what’s happened if they played a role? Who knows. We don’t know them, we don’t know what their lives are.”

One of those charged was Igor Girkin, a retired colonel in Russia’s main intelligence agency, the FSB. He led Russian and separatist forces in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in 2014.

Eastern Ukraine’s pro-Moscow rebels have relied heavily on Russian military assistance during the separatist conflict that erupted in April 2014 and has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Girkin dismissed the accusations in a telephone interview Wednesday, saying the “insurgents did not shoot down the Boeing”. Girkin lives in Moscow.

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