Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ 25th May, 2016

The meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak on the sidelines of the ASEAN – Russia in Sochi has caused panic among the Ukrainian authorities. As is known, the two leaders agreed to coordinate an investigation into the downed “Boeing” over Ukraine in the framework of a joint working group.

After a meeting with Vladimir Putin, Najib Razak noted the progress in the case of the “Boeing”, which crashed in 2014 over Donbass. “I saw that we made positive steps on the path to justice for families and victims of MH17 when the Russian President and I agreed that after our next steps will be determined, we will outline the research results of the joint investigation team in October,” said a statement published on the website of the Prime Minister. He also urged all parties not to succumb to speculation and not to come to premature conclusions. However, the Minister of Transport of Malaysia sent a letter to the Dutch Commission on the investigation of the tragedy with the Boeing, requesting to include Russian experts in its composition.

At the request of Petro Poroshenko, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin contacted by phone the US Secretary of State John Kerry and complained to the latter that Russia has dragged Malaysia to its side. Klimkin appealed to Kerry to urge them to take steps in order to disrupt the emerging Russia and Malaysia joint investigation into the causes of the disaster.

Poroshenko and his clique understand that the lack of real evidence of Russia’s involvement in the downed “Boeing” makes Malaysia the first country to seek the truth about whether and under what circumstances the airplane crashed. Malaysia in this case has more right than any other country due to the passengers whom died in the crash.

In fact, with this step Malaysia expressed distrust towards the results of the investigation, which was conducted by the Dutch Investigative Commission.

The sharp turn of Malaysia to Russia is in itself sufficiently eloquent. Kuala Lumpur praised the willingness of Russia from the first days of the tragedy to make all information available to Malaysian investigators. Malaysia insisted Russian experts were included in the investigation group of the tragedy. However, this was not done. The Dutch Commission did not include a single Russian expert and ignored all the competent Russian organizations that conducted their independent investigation into the tragedy. We are talking in particular about the famous report of the Corporation “Almaz-Antey”, which experimentally reproduced the last minutes before the collapse of the “Boeing”. However, this report was ignored by the investigators of the Netherlands.

Accumulated dissatisfaction with the progress of the investigation sparked the Prime Minister of Malaysia’s initiative to establish a joint group to investigate the reasons for the investigation of “Boeing”.

As soon as the guests left the Sochi summit, the Minister of Transport of Malaysia Liow Tiong Lai sent a letter to the Commission of Inquiry of the Netherlands with the requirement to include representatives of Russia in all expert groups.

This circumstance caused panic in Kiev, where they realized they cannot refuse Malaysia’s claim, threatening an international scandal, but also Kiev fears to allow Russian experts.

Such a sharp and inadequate response by Poroshenko and his Minister Klimkin only shows that in Ukraine, the fear of disclosure of all the details of the tragedy that will eventually point to the involvement of Kiev.

Washington doesn’t know how to respond to the initiative of Malaysia, because regardless of the possible participation of Russian experts in the work of the Dutch investigative Commission, Russia and Malaysia have already agreed to announce the results of its own investigation in October 2016.