Flight MH17 crash. pro-Russian separatists were condemned

Correspondent in Brussels

Eight years of waiting. Two and a half year trial. Two hours of pronunciation. The court of the city of Schiphol in the Netherlands made the verdict in the case of flight MH17 on Thursday afternoon. On July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines flight from Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew. The corpses were found in the fields of sunflowers or on the roofs of houses in the Donbass region of Donetsk.

For the judges, Russia’s role in this attack is beyond doubt. The plane was indeed shot down by a Russian missile fired from eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists fighting Ukrainian forces in what was then only the beginning of Moscow’s all-out war on Kiev on February 24. “The court believes that MH17 was shot down by a BUK missile fired from an agricultural field near Pervomaysk, killing 283 passengers and 15 crew.” announced the president of the court, Hendrik Stienhuis, at the beginning of the delivery, in front of a packed room, where relatives of the victims from all over the world were present and for a long time they were not allowed to follow the proceedings due to the epidemic. big numbers The presiding judge deliberately reminded“As of mid-May 2014, Russia had so-called overall control over the Donetsk People’s Republic.”

“Scandalous trial”.

While Russia and Ukraine have long blamed each other for the tragedy, President Zelenskiy praised on Twitter “important decision” adding that “The punishment for all the atrocities of Russia, both yesterday and today, will be inevitable.” His Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmitry Kuleba, in his turn emphasized “A large-scale joint effort between Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and Malaysia”. during the investigation, which was extraordinary, particularly because of the multiple nationalities of the victims, who included 193 Dutch, 28 Malaysians and 27 Australians.

Moscow, which has always denied its involvement in this tragedy, strongly reacted to the verdict. “The course of the trial and the outcome show that (the decision) is based on a political order,” it is said in the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry. “The trial in the Netherlands is likely to become one of the most scandalous in the history of judicial proceedings.” he added.

In this case, 4 men were prosecuted not for launching the missile, but for working to deliver it and the missile in this region illegally annexed by Russia. None of them participated in the trial. Only the Russian Oleg Pulatov chose the interests of the two lawyers. And it is this 56-year-old man, a former Russian special forces officer, former official of the separatist military leadership, who was acquitted on Thursday due to lack of evidence. In a video sent to court in June, he claimed he had “It has nothing to do with the disaster.” On the other side were Russians Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko. “found guilty” for murder and bear some responsibility for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane. They are sentenced in absentia for life.

In July 2014, when the plane was shot down, 51-year-old Igor Girkin, a former member of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSS), was the defense minister and commander of the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. Sergei Dubinsky, 60, a former officer of the Russian military intelligence service (GRU), was Igor Girkin’s deputy. As for Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, he was accused of personally helping to escort the missile after it entered Ukraine and then doing the same with the launch pad after the crash. Associated with separatist forces, he led a combat unit in Donetsk region in July 2014.

The President of Ukraine welcomed them.”first beliefs”. “But it is necessary that the provocateurs appear in court, because the feeling of impunity leads to new crimes.”he stressed, however, urging remove this illusion that international justice will not find and convict the guilty“atrocities”.

For now, it is unlikely that the three convicts in the MH17 case will serve their sentences. Russia will not extradite them.

The grain export deal was extended for four months

An agreement to allow grain exports from Ukrainian ports, which was set to expire at midnight on Friday, has been extended for four winter months, allaying concerns about a possible global food crisis. The four parties involved in this agreement – Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations – on Thursday approved the continuation of this agreement “without any changes”, according to a press release of Russian diplomacy. “After the quadrilateral negotiations organized by Turkey, the Black Sea grain corridor agreement was extended for 120 days from November 19.– said Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The president of Turkey, one of the craftsmen of the device, also argued.importance and benefit“from this agreement”for supply and food security worldwide, with nearly 500 ships and more than 11 million tons of grain and food products» has been delivered since summer. On Thursday, several Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, were targeted by Russian strikes. The bombings coincide with the first snowfall in a country plagued by power cuts, where temperatures can drop to -10°C. Repeated Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since October have regularly deprived millions of Ukrainians of power, but also of water.