On the 17 April, a tragedy happened – a Malaysia Airlines plane crashed in the skies over Ukraine.

Russia was the first to state that an independent, open and objective investigation of the causes of this disaster was necessary. It should be international and should be conducted with the decisive role of the ICAO, other international bodies, including the Interstate Aviation Committee, which includes Russian and Ukrainian representatives, along with others.

We believe that such a format will allow all parties to ensure a truly independent investigation, avoid unilateral assessments and to find out the true causes of this accident.

We are puzzled that before the investigation started, official representatives of several states hurried to state their own versions of the causes of this plane crash without any evidence, thus affecting the course of the investigation.

Russia makes an insistent appeal to both parties to the conflict, to do everything possible to ensure access of international experts to the area of the plane crash, to carry out all the actions which are required for the investigation into the indicated plane crash.

19 July 2014