The downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was blamed on Ukraine by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a meeting with his Malaysian counterpart on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The MH17's crash in July killed all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.
Ukraine should bore full responsibility for what happened since the tragedy would never have occurred if Kiev had not taken up arms, Shoigu told Hishammuddin Hussein, who was in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing MH17 investigation.
"The catastrophe happened in the air space belonging to Ukraine, which bears full responsibility for what happened," he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
Back in July, the Boeing 777-200 crashed while flying over a part of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border that is essentially a war zone between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.
In a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels that has set Russia, which Western powers accuse of trying to destabilize Ukraine to maintain influence over its old Soviet empire, and the West at battling positions, Ukraine then accused pro-Moscow militants, aided by Russian military intelligence officers, of firing a long-range, Soviet-era SA-11 ground-to-air missile, Reuters reported.
However, the claims were denied by Moscow, who in turn, pointed fingers at Kiev, Agence France-Press reported.
"I am convinced that if Ukraine solved its domestic problems without the use of armed forces, without the bloodshed there over the past month, without the use of heavy artillery ... this tragedy would not have happened," Shoigu said in televised remarks.
Hishammuddin arrived in Moscow a day after Dutch Safety Board released a preliminary report on the July 17 disaster, saying MH17 "broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside".
"I very much appreciate your patience," he told Russian authorities, referring to the ongoing investigation.
"While the report from the Dutch Safety Board does not apportion blame over the July air disaster, it could heighten Western pressure on Moscow over its role in the bloody Ukraine conflict," according to AFP.
