Malaysia has urged the formation of an international tribunal to prosecute those suspected of bringing down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in July last year, killing all 298 onboard.
New Zealand’s United Nations ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, president of the UN Security Council for July, said that Malaysia had told the council members of their intention to present a resolution in relation to MH17.
He said that the move to seek criminal accountability in the crash was backed jointly by Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ukraine.
However, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov termed the proposal ‘not timely and counterproductive’.
The flight is believed to have been shot by a surface-to-air missile over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine.
The west had accused Moscow of supplying the missile which was used by rebels to shoot the plane.
