17:36, 17 June 2024Source: 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

Russia is ending its participation in the dispute with Australia and the Netherlands in the case of  the crash of the Malaysia Airlines plane , which is being considered by the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.

Australia and the Netherlands filed a joint complaint against Russia with the ICAO in March 2022. They stated that the Russian Federation violated the third article of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which obliges not to use weapons against civil aircraft. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said that countries would seek payment of “millions of dollars” from the Russian Federation.

The Russian department said that it initially did not agree that the ICAO Council could consider this complaint, and still does not recognize its competence in this matter. At the same time, the ministry explained that they continued their participation until now, based on the fact that “the ICAO platform can be used for professional dialogue on the topic of the plane crash.”

The Russian side proposed several times to conduct an independent investigation, but ICAO, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, refused and only has the results of a “pseudo-investigation” of one of the parties to the proceedings.

Moscow itself does not recognize the ICAO Council as independent, including because some of the organization’s member states after the disaster blamed Russia for the plane crash.

Among other things, the Russian department called the complaint from Australia and the Netherlands a “stuffing” and the proceedings themselves a “farce”, saying that they did not recognize its results.

(c)MEDUZA 2024