MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia respects China abstaining from the UN vote on a Security Council resolution to establish an international tribunal to investigate last summer’s MH17 plane crash in eastern Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
"We always respect the position of our Chinese colleagues," Peskov told journalists when asked to comment on China's abstention.
On Wednesday, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution to create a tribunal, having repeatedly stressed that the initiative is premature and counterproductive. Angola, Venezuela and China abstained in the vote.
Flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed in southeastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board. Donbass independence supporters and Kiev forces blame each other for the downing of the plane.
The preliminary report by the Dutch Safety Board suggested that the plane broke up in mid-air after being hit by numerous high-energy objects that had penetrated it from the outside. A final report is expected to be released in October.