Netherlands summons Russian ambassador over indications that Putin was involved in MH17

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the ambassador of Russia about MH17 on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. The international investigation team JIT revealed earlier in the day that there are “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin was involved in the deployment of the BUK missile that downed flight MH17. The ambassador had to provide text and explanation, according to Rutte.

D66 parliamentarian wanted to expel the ambassador. “It is clear that Russia under Putin can never again be a cooperation partner,” the coalition party MP said. “We have to draw a line now that Putin’s involvement in MH17 has been demonstrated and his war against Ukraine continues.” He wants the Cabinet to expel the ambassador and “ask other European countries to do the same.”

Rutte is against the proposal to expel the ambassador. According to him, the Cabinet wants to keep the lines of communication with the Kremlin open. If the Netherlands expels the Russian ambassador, Moscow will expel the Dutch ambassador in retaliation.

Expelling an ambassador is a very exceptional measure that happens very rarely. It is more common for lower diplomats to be expelled from an embassy, for example, because they were accused of espionage. The Netherlands expelled 17 Russian diplomats for that reason in March last year, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. In retaliation, Russia expelled Dutch diplomats from the country.

The JIT halted its investigation. No new suspects will be charged at this time. Rutte stressed that the case could be reopened if there are new developments.

On 17 July 2014, the Malaysia Airlines flight from Schiphol to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board were killed, including 196 Dutch people.

In November last year, the court in The Hague sentenced rebel leader Igor Girkin, his right-hand man Sergei Dubinsky, and garrison commander Leonid Chartshenko to life in prison for their role in the downing of flight MH17. They were the first suspects identified by the JIT. The fourth suspect, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted. The court believes that the downing of the Malaysia Airlines passenger flight was a mistake by pro-Russian separatists. The assumption is that they did not intend to shoot down a passenger plane but mistook it for a military aircraft.