Russian veto expected as Security Council votes on MH17

Foreign Minister Murray McCully says the failure of the Security Council to adopt a resolution seeking to establish an global tribunal to provide accountability for the downing of flight MH17 is deeply disappointing.

Russian Federation exercised its veto at the Security Council session in New York during a vote on Wednesday, while 11 other members backed the draft resolution.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country lost 196 citizens in the MH-17 crash, made an urgent appeal to Putin on Wednesday not to thwart the effort to bring those responsible for the deaths to account.

Rutte and Putin mentioned the choice decision that does not embrace a tribunal however asks for a full worldwide investigation, the Kremlin stated.

Russian United Nations Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said it was premature to set up an worldwide tribunal. A resolution needs nine votes for passage, and no vetoes by Russian Federation, the United States, China, Britain or France. “By vetoing this resolution, Russian Federation has tried to deny justice to the 298 victims on that plane, and deny their families a chance to hold accountable those responsible”.

The Boeing 777 aircraft was carrying mainly Dutch nationals on its flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

The draft resolution, which was proposed by Malaysia, classified the incident as a threat to global peace and security and called for the creation of an worldwide tribunal under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

MH17, which was bound from the Netherlands to Malaysia, was shot down on July 17, 2014, over Ukrainian territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

The ministry had earlier said the establishment of a tribunal prior to the completion of the criminal investigation would ensure the establishment was as de-politicised as possible, and consistent with the council’s own practice in relations to other ad hoc criminal courts and tribunals.

A preliminary report released in the Netherlands last year said the plane had no technical problems in the seconds before it broke up in the sky after being struck by multiple objects – a conclusion that experts said pointed to a missile strike.

The investigation by the Dutch Safety Board will only establish the cause of the crash, not who is to blame.

In his statement before the vote, Dato Sri Liow Tiong Lai, Malaysia’s transportation minister, said the UN owes it to the families and loved ones of the victims to go after those who carried out the attack.