Russia denied the Netherlands' request to question the commander of the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, Kursk-based Sergei Muchkaev, a suspect in the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crash. RIA Novosti reports.
Presiding Judge Hendrik Steinhei said that the Russian side refused to cooperate because “the poll is contrary to the interests of the Russian Federation.”
Earlier it was reported that the Netherlands wanted to initiate new proceedings against Russia in the case of the crash of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in July 2014. It is planned to prepare a legal procedure at the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The issue will be on the agenda of the new government, which is in the stage of formation.
A Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17, 2014 in territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). 298 people died. Investigating the disaster, the Joint Investigation Team includes representatives from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
The investigation believes that former DPR Defense Minister Igor Girkin (Strelkov) and three of his subordinates – Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko were involved in the plane crash. They are accused of delivering a Buk air defense missile system from Russia to Ukraine, from which the liner was shot down.
