Australia’s foreign minister urged Russia on Friday to hand over the three men, including two Russians, convicted in the Netherlands on Thursday for shooting down a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine in 2014.
Penny Wong also called Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of “protecting murderers.”
A Dutch court on Thursday sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment the Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and the Ukrainian Leonid Khartchenko. They were found guilty of murder and having intervened in the destruction of the aircraft after a trial that lasted two and a half years.
“The Russian Federation has a responsibility”
The Boeing 777 crash, linking Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killed all 298 people (including 196 Dutch, 43 Malaysian and 38 Australian) on board. It was hit in eastern Ukraine, in the hands of pro-Russian separatists, for what the prosecution said was a missile supplied by Moscow.
According to the Australian minister, who was speaking to reporters, the verdict confirms that “the Russian Federation bears a responsibility. Russia cannot ignore this fact.”
Moscow’s refusal to hand over these men constitutes, according to her, flagrant proof of Putin’s personality: “We tell Russia that the world knows that you protect the murderers and that gives an indication of who you are, Mr. Putin “. she later told ABC.
Russia, which has categorically denied any responsibility since the tragedy, denounced a “political” decision after the conviction in the Netherlands.
Source: BFM TV
