"No state has right to remain silent", Dutch FM says about MH17

"When it comes to establishing the truth and accountability for what happened to MH17, no single state has the right to remain silent", Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs said to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, NOS reports.

"On the contrary", Blok continued. "It has the duty to work together constructively, to shed light on the truth, not to cover it up in continual fog." The Dutch Minister made this statement face to face with the Russian ambassador to the Security Council. He again called on Russia to cooperate in the investigation into the perpetrators behind the downing of the Malaysian Airlines flight in July 2014.

Last week the Joint Investigation Team revealed that the BUK missile system used to shoot down flight MH17, killing all 298 people on board, came from the 53rd Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces. The Netherlands and Australia officially held Russia accountable for its role in the disaster - providing the missile used to cause it. But Russia vehemently denies this. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov finds it inappropriate that the Netherlands and Australia hold Russia accountable for the disaster, stressing that his country was not involved in MH17 in any way.

The JIT also revealed that Russia is not cooperating in their investigation, and refusing to provide requested information. This has to change, according to Blok. "All 15 members of this Council, including the Russian Federation, voted for justice almost four years ago. They voted for 'those responsible [...] to be held to account' and for 'all states to cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability'." he said, according to NOS. "Unfortunately, four years later, these demands must be repeated and I repeat them again, supported by masses of irrefutable evidence."