UN aviation council finds Russia responsible for downing of Malaysian Airlines flight

The council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) voted on Monday that Russia failed to uphold its obligations under international air law which requires that States “refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight.”

The case was brought by the Netherlands and Australia.

“This represents the first time in ICAO’s history that its Council has made a determination on the merits of a dispute between Member States under the Organization’s dispute settlement mechanism,” the UN agency said.

Caught in conflict

Flight MH17 was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine amid the armed conflict between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian military forces.

All 283 passengers and 15 crew members were killed.  They represented some 17 nationalities and included 196 Dutch citizens, 43 Malaysians and 38 Australian citizens or residents.

ICAO is the UN agency that develops and implements global aviation strategies and technical standards.  It established a special task force on risks to civil aviation arising from conflict zones in the weeks following the crash.

The Netherlands launched a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in August 2014 together with Australia, Malaysia and Belgium, as well as Ukraine.

The JIT determined that flight MH17 was shot down by a missile launched from a Buk TELAR installation that was transported from Russia to a farm field in eastern Ukraine in an area controlled by separatists.

In November 2022, a Dutch court convicted three men – two Russians and a Ukrainian – for murder.  They were tried in absentia and sentenced to life in prison. Another Russian man was acquitted.

Breach of civilian aviation treaty

That same year, the Netherlands and Australia launched the case with ICAO.

It centered on allegations that Russia’s conduct in the downing of the aircraft by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine constituted a breach of Article 3 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

War in Ukraine has escalated since the crash following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.  

More than 13,000 civilians have been killed to date, and over 31,000 injured, according to the UN human rights office, OHCHR.