No word on extradition of MH17 suspects, says Russian envoy
Netherlands government unlikely to make an extradition request through the embassy, says ambassador.
THE HAGUE: The Russian Embassy in the Netherlands has not yet received from the Netherlands a request to extradite Russians suspected of being involved in the 2014 shooting-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in the east of Ukraine, Sputnik news agency reported, quoting Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands Alexander Shulgin.
In June, an international Joint Investigation Team announced the names of three Russians and one Ukrainian suspected of being involved in the crash, in which 298 people were killed.
“We have not received such a request from the Dutch and are unlikely to receive it. They are well aware of what our legislation states on this matter and are therefore unlikely to address our embassy,” Shulgin said during an interview with Sputnik.
However, he did not rule out that the Netherlands could take some steps through its embassy in Moscow.
The MAS Boeing 777 operating MH17 crashed on July 17, 2014, while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, leaving no survivors. The Dutch-led JIT concluded that the plane was brought down by the missile, which came from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, based near the Russian city of Kursk.
Kiev and self-proclaimed republics in the southeast of Ukraine have blamed each other for the downing of Malaysia Airlines’ plane, while the Russian Foreign Ministry rejected the JIT’s conclusions as groundless and called the investigation biased.
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Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations of having a role in the MH17 crash. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia has not been granted access to the investigation, adding that Moscow would be able to recognise its results only if it is a part of the probe.