Russia standing in way of justice for MH17, says UK PM Cameron

London, July 30: UK Prime Minister David Cameron has accused Russia of "standing in the way of justice," after later used its veto power to block the creation of an international criminal probe into the downing of flight MH17.

The Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Ukraine, and Belgium wanted a UN tribunal to investigate the downing of flight MH17 on July 17, 2014 in which all 298 passengers and crew on board died.

The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

Eleven countries on the 15-member council voted in favour of the proposal by Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, while China, Angola and Venezuela abstained from voting.

"What are the grounds to be assured of the impartiality of such an investigation?" Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said in a speech to the Council after the vote, The Guardian reported.

PM Cameron, on a visit to Vietnam, said the Russian move was "infuriating and completely wrong".

"Let us not forget: British people died on this flight. Hundreds of people died on this flight. We cannot let one country stand in the way of getting to the truth or one country stand in the way of getting justice", added PM.

"If we cannot set up a tribunal through the United Nations route, we will have to look at other ways to make sure this is done," added PM.

However, Russia said discussion of a tribunal should be postponed until two Dutch-led investigations into the crash release their reports. No suspects have yet been named.

Western countries claim the Boeing 777 was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile fired by Russian-backed separatists who mistook it for a Ukrainian aircraft.

Russia and the separatists have consistently denied any involvement.

OneIndia News