Putin's MH17 endgame is to get Russia off the hook

Focus Malaysia

06-06-2025

WHEN Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim raised the MH17 issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he received only cold comfort.
In his recent visit to Russia, he had to broach the subject in the wake of a United Nations (UN) aviation agency report that found Russia responsible for the 2014 downing of Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.
All 298 individuals including 44 Malaysian passengers on board were killed. The memory of this tragic incident still burns bright in the minds of the relatives of the victims, and ever since then they have been waiting for answers as to who was to be solely blamed.
Eleven years later, Putin could only convey condolences to the families of the victims in his meeting with Anwar, dashing hopes that compensations were on the plate in response to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) council ruling.
The horror of the air disaster will never go away as long as there is no final closure to the case.
Once it is conclusively proven that Moscow must take the full blame, and must make reparations for this senseless act of violence, the matter can hopefully rest in peace.
The UN aviation body—the ICAO—has ruled that Russia is to be held accountable for the shooting down of the MAS passenger jet over the troubled region.
After much deliberation, the ICAO governing council voted that the Russian Federation had violated international air law by 'resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight'.
Although Russia is an ICAO member (there are 193-member states), it was not elected to the ICAO council, the main governing body comprising 36-member countries, which is mainly responsible for recommending practices related to air navigation, among other varied duties.
Subsequently, Russia halted its participation in the investigation last year, claiming allegations that Moscow had a direct hand in the disaster were 'fake allegations'.
The current 36 members, elected in 2022 to serve for three years, handed down the ruling after the Australian and the Netherlands governments brought the case against Moscow in 2022. Malaysia is also a member of the council.
But Putin promptly poured cold water on the ruling because he believes the report is politically tainted and is biased against his country.
In short, Russia's hand is not soiled with the blood of the innocent victims.
By rejecting the findings of the report, the Russian leader is questioning the very legitimacy of the ICAO, which was established in 1947 to 'enhance global civil aviation safety'.
By failing to uphold international air law, Moscow does not believe in 'sharing the skies' for the safety of air travellers.
Putin has laid out starkly his imperious demand: he wants a thorough, detailed, independent, comprehensive, and exhaustive investigation.
Putin must be aware that Malaysia has also cast its vote against Russia and when he met Anwar, he was ready to hand down his own ruling. There was nothing the prime minister could do except to listen meekly as his host sternly spoke his mind.
Perhaps, the ICAO thought Anwar could carry the message directly to Putin but Moscow sees it in a different light.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the publication of the ruling 'was timed to cast a shadow on Anwar's visit to Russia'.
But it was Putin who cast a shadow on Anwar: the Russian leader gave neither space for the prime minister to discuss the findings nor gave face to Malaysia's position in the important UN aviation agency.
Many of the 36-member states are heavyweights in the aviation industry such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Japan and Putin sees all of them as Western allies ganging up against the Russian Federation.
If Russia had been elected to the ICAO council in 2022 (it fell short of the votes to get elected), it would have vehemently denied responsibility and would have probably staged a walk-out in protest.
But how does Putin propose to conduct an independent investigation into the MH17 tragedy? Does this mean he wants a new slate of ICAO council members to deliberate again on the matter?
Or does he want the investigative body to be a totally new setup outside the framework of the ICAO, with members sympathetic to Russia?
Which ever way one looks at it, an independent probe into the incident will not be independent because Russia will most certainly play a dominant, aggressive, and intrusive role in the deliberations.
One can say rightly that Putin will only be interested in one conclusion and, that is, Russia must not be found guilty of the horrendous crime. Put the whole blame on Ukraine.
And if Ukraine, which is now battling the Russian invaders, is annexed, Putin can turn around and say, with the demise of the Ukraine statehood, the case is closed for good. ‒ June 5, 2025
Phlip Rodrigues is a retired journalist.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main image: Reuters