Anwar raises MH17 issue during meeting with Putin
15/05/2025
Prime Minister Anwar (right) shakes hands with President Putin during a bilateral meeting at the Kremlin, Moscow on Wednesday. - Bernama photo
MOSCOW: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim raised the issue of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that was shot down in Ukraine in 2014 during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
Anwar said the matter was raised during his bilateral talks with the Russian President at the Kremlin here on behalf of the families of the victims affected by the incident.
"Of course, I, as a representative of Malaysians, especially the victims' families, took the opportunity to raise the issue with President Vladimir Putin during bilateral talks," he told Malaysian media following his official visit to Russia, here, last night.
He was asked to comment on the latest developments regarding the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council's finding that Russia was responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014.
According to the ICAO report, the plane was en route from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a Russian missile while flying over eastern Ukraine, during fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops.
The Prime Minister said that Putin listened carefully to the issues raised before expressing sympathy and offering condolences to the victim's family.
Anwar said the Russian President stressed that he had demanded that a thorough and comprehensive investigation be carried out and that the issue not be politicized.
Putin said that from the beginning, Moscow had requested that the investigation into the matter be free and thorough, and stressed that Russia was ready to cooperate to ensure that the report was more credible.
Anwar said he would explain to the victim's family regarding the response given by Putin.
"All I can confirm is that he said it was not true that he was not ready to cooperate, but he did not want to cooperate with any body that he or Russia considered to be not independent," he said.
On Monday, the ICAO, a United Nations aviation body, ruled that Russia was responsible for the incident that killed all 298 passengers and crew on the ill-fated plane.
According to the report, ICAO will consider an appropriate form of compensation in the next few weeks.
In November 2022, a Dutch court convicted two Russian men and a Ukrainian man in absentia of murder for their role in the attack.
Anwar arrived in Moscow for a four-day official visit starting May 13 and he will continue the second segment of the visit by visiting Kazan, Tatarstan on May 15.
The visit was at Putin's invitation.
Earlier, the two leaders held a closed-door meeting before Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, attended a luncheon and held a meeting with delegations from both countries.
