ICAO blames Russia for Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crash over Ukraine in 2014
The Council of the World Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), linked to the United Nations, issued a statement on May 12 in which it holds Russia responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
The Boeing 777-200 aircraft, registration 9M-MRD, was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17 of that year when it was hit by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile while flying over Ukraine.
There were 298 people on board, including passengers and crew, and there were no survivors. At the time, there was fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatist groups in the region, who are believed to have fired the missile and shot down the jet by mistake.
Two Russians and one Ukrainian were convicted in absentia by a Dutch court in November 2022, but Russia refused to extradite them.
Most of the passengers were Dutch (196 people) and 38 Australians. Both countries called for Russia to be convicted and for it to make reparations to the families of the victims.
The ICAO, which has no regulatory power, said that Russia violated international air law by using weapons against civilian aircraft in flight.
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