The suspects were named as Igor Girkin, a former colonel of the Russian Federal Security Service; Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, who worked for the Russian Military Intelligence Service; and Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian former commander.

The names were announced during a press conference by the Joint Investigation Team in Utrecht, in the Netherlands.

The team also announced the charges and an upcoming trial on March 9, 2020.

International arrest warrants have also been issued.

The plane, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, was shot out of the sky over territory held by separatists in eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.

About two-thirds of the passengers were Dutch. Also killed were 43 Malaysians.

The names of four suspects were presented by investigators to relatives earlier today.