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BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has added his voice to calls for an international criminal tribunal to charge those connected with the shooting down of Flight MH17 last year.
The Ukrainian government has been locked in a struggle with pro-Russian rebel groups in the east of the country and puts the blame squarely on the rebels for the plane going down.
"This is an act of atrocity, cannot be forgiven by anyone in the modern world. Recently, together with Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and the Netherlands, Ukraine asked the UN Security Council to establish an international criminal tribunal for those responsible of the crime connected on downing the aircraft," Poroshenko said.
The tribunal, proposed by a Dutch-led international investigation team, will involve the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine. This effort is also backed by the UK. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Friday that the tribunal should be backed by a resolution binding all UN member states.
But this move has been rejected by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who says calls for such a tribunal are counterproductive and premature.
Meanwhile, the Russian Air Transport Agency said that in cooperation with the investigation, Russia has handed over all the available data about the tragedy that it had, including the information from radar stations.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
