The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council ruled this week that Russia failed to meet its obligations to avoid the use of force against civilian aircraft in flight. The case was brought by Australia and the Netherlands in 2022, both of which lost citizens in the incident, per Bloomberg.
"The Australian Government welcomes the ICAO Council’s decision and urges it to move swiftly to determine remedies for this violation,” said Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong in an online statement. “We call upon Russia to finally face up to its responsibility for this horrific act of violence and make reparations for its egregious conduct, as required under international law.”
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, when it was hit by a Russian-made missile over the Donbas region, where Ukrainian forces were in conflict with Russian-backed separatists.
The crash killed 196 Dutch nationals, 38 Australians, 10 Britons, and several Belgian and Malaysian citizens.
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said the ICAO ruling was "an important step towards establishing the truth and achieving justice and accountability." He said that it sent a message to the global community that "states cannot violate international law with impunity." A Dutch court in 2022 found that the aircraft had been downed by a missile system operated by a Russian-controlled separatist group.
Two Russian nationals and one pro-Moscow Ukrainian were convicted of murder in absentia and sentenced to life in prison. None have served time, as they were not extradited.
The Kremlin has long denied any role in the incident. On Tuesday, Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the ICAO finding, saying, “Our position is well known: Russia was not a country that took part in the investigation of this incident, so we do not accept any biased conclusions,” according to the Interfax news service, reports Bloomberg.
The ICAO decision comes more than a decade after the airliner was destroyed, adding further international pressure on Russia amid ongoing calls for accountability.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 is separate from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The cause of MH370’s disappearance remains unknown.
