"Despite the difficult situation around establishing the reasons behind the MH17 crash and identifying those guilty, given that there have been only accusations but no real cooperation, we remain open to dialogue, which could at least promote getting over the impasse in the process of establishing the truth. Therefore, we have given consent to hold trilateral consultations between Russia, the Netherlands and Australia on the whole range of questions related to the flight MH17 crash. Several meetings have already been held. We're working on the time frame for the next ones," Paramonov said.
He stressed that the countries had agreed to keep the consultations confidential. The first round of the trilateral consultations was held in late March.
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, bound for Kuala Lumpur, was downed over eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014 as the region was embroiled in conflict, following the coup d'etat in the country earlier that year. All 298 passengers aboard, mostly Dutch nationals, died in the crash. Almost immediately after the crash, before any formal investigation, the US and many of its European allies rushed to place responsibility for the tragedy on Russia.
Following the incident, a Dutch-led investigative team put together, to probe the tragedy, claimed that the plane was shot down by a Buk missile system which was transported from Russia and returned after the disaster. Russia was not allowed to participate in the probe.
Russia subsequently conducted its own investigation into the disaster. The manufacturer of the BUK system, Russia's Almaz Antey company, dismissed the allegations, insisting that the rocket was fired from an area controlled by the Ukrainian military, providing evidence that the system belonged to the Ukrainian Army.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that in 2011, Russian authorities had disposed of all missiles from the series in question, including the missile whose engine the JIT demonstrated as evidence to prove Russia's involvement in the downing of the plane.
The Russian side has repeatedly attempted to provide Dutch investigators with its evidence, but the JIT has shown no interest in any Russian information.
