MH17 crash: Russia calls Ukraine’s accusations 'blatant lies'; blames Kyiv for Kakhovka dam breach

Moscow, at the top United Nations court,denied accusations by Kyiv about backing pro-Russian separatists accused of shooting down an aircraft in 2014 over Ukraine and discrimination against the Tatar ethnic group in Crimea, on Thursday (June 8). Russia also went on to call Ukraine’s accusations “blatant lies,” days after Kyiv called Moscow a “terrorist state.”

The hearing about the 2014 case came amid the ongoing conflict between the two countries and days after the attack on the Soviet-era Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River in the Russia-occupied part of southern Ukraine for which both Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other.

What was the hearing about?

The hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was the first time Russian and Ukrainian lawyers faced each other since the beginning of what Moscow callsa “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The legal teams from both countries comprised dozens of representatives and two days after Ukraine presented the allegations, Russia was allowed to respond before a panel of 16 judges at the ICJ on the second day of the hearings.

According to Kyiv, Moscow violated the UN conventions for financing terrorism and racial discrimination as it allegedly equipped and funded pro-Russian forces who shot down the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine killing all 298 passengers and crew on board.

Violence broke out in 2014 in Ukraine when at least 13,000 people were killed after pro-European Union protesters overthrew Kyiv’s Moscow-allied government. It was not soon after that Russia forcibly annexed Crimea.

Ukraine has also called on the Hague-based court to order Russia to stop discrimination against the Tatar ethnic group in Crimea and claimed that after the region was annexed Moscow then “engaged in a campaign of cultural erasure, taking aim at ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars".

How has Russia responded to the allegations?

Over the years, Russia has repeatedly denied these allegations. On Thursday, the Russian ambassador to the Netherlands, Alexander Shulgin told the ICJ, “Ukraine is constantly turning to blatant lies and false accusations levelled against the Russian Federation.” He added, “Nothing could be further removed from the truth.”

Russia also reiterated the denial of claims and rejected the “scandalous” decision by the Dutch court in November that convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist to life in absentia over the shooting of MH17 and their role. The court also found Russia had “overall control” over the separatist forces.

Furthermore, Russia’s ambassador-at-large, Gennady Kuzmin told the ICJ, that the verdict was biased against separatist forces in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, adding that “At the end of the day, Ukraine’s MH17 case boils down to nonsense.”

This comes days after Ukrainian lawyers said that the Russian officials were “guilty of terrorism financing” as they supplied the missile knowing it would be used to shoot down an aircraft.

Russian lawyers on the Nova Kakhovka dam collapse, neo-Nazis in Ukraine

Russia reiterated claims made by the Kremlin following the incident and said Ukraine destroyed the key dam with artillery strikes and that the government in Kyiv was led by neo-Nazis.

“Ukraine has declared that Russia blew up the large dam at Nova Kakhovka. In fact, it’s Ukraine that did it,” said Shulgin, adding the “Kyiv regime not only launched massive artillery attacks against the dam…but it also deliberately raised the water level of the Kakhovka reservoir to a critical level.”

This comes after a Ukrainian diplomat, reiteratingstatements from officials in Kyiv, on Tuesday, said “Just today, Russia blew up a major dam…causing significant civilian evacuations, ecological damage and threatening the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.”

The Russian lawyer also repeated President Vladimir Putin’s claim which he used to justify the war in Ukraine which is that Kyiv’s current government had “neo-Nazis” in key posts and accused them of “brutal repression” in the eastern Donbas region.

This comes after Putin said one of the goals of his “special military operation” was the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine. Representatives from Ukraine are expected to respond to these allegations next week.

(With inputs from agencies)

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

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