AMSTERDAM: A report due out into the causes of the downing over eastern Ukraine last year of flight MH17, on which most of the passengers were Dutch nationals, is likely to put a further strain on the Netherlands’ relations with Russia, analysts said.
The report by the Dutch Safety Board will be the first release in over a year of new official information on what caused the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane to crash in July last year, killing all 298 people on board — 196 of whom were Dutch nationals.
“MH17 was a traumatic development in our society. Almost everyone in the Netherlands knows someone [who died] or knows someone who is related to the [victims],” the Netherlands’ Ambassador to Russia Ron van Dartel told the Moscow Times in an interview last week.
Since the Netherlands has a leading position in both the probe into the causes of the downing due out Tuesday and an ongoing criminal investigation by the Joint Investigation Team — which also includes Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine — it has publicly refrained from pointing fingers at the risk of being perceived as biased.
But in the direct aftermath of the downing, there was a direct political fallout in the Netherlands’ relations with Russia, already strained over the annexation of Crimea in March and Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.
“For a long time, the Netherlands hid behind Germany in trying to delay economic sanctions against Russia [to protect trade interests]. But MH17 meant ‘business as usual’ was no longer possible,” said Tony van der Togt, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch think tank.
The crash, which analysts and media swiftly said was likely caused by Russia-backed rebels shooting it down with a missile after mistaking it for a Ukrainian plane, pushed European Union countries to introduce a series of economic measures against Russia in late July last year.
Tuesday’s report will not directly answer the question of criminal responsibility, but it will provide the evidence that could later be used to build up a legal case, analysts said.
