Support Growing for International Tribunal on Shooting Down of Malaysian Passenger Jet

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 14 – Three additional countries – Australia, Belgium and Ukraine – have joined Malaysia and the Netherlands in calling for the UN Security Council to create an international tribunal on the shooting down of the Malaysian passenger jet last year as “the best means of securing justice for the victims and their families” (regions.ru/news/2554366/).

            Because the Russian Federation is very much opposed to this idea and because it has a veto in the Security Council, there is no chance that such calls will be realized in this way. But to the extent that ever more countries join the appeal and the other members of the Security Council support them, it will add to Moscow’s international isolation.

            This week marks the first anniversary of this outrage, one that a growing mountain of evidence suggests was committed by Russian forces or those under Russian control and therefore is something for which Vladimir Putin and his power vertical bear direct responsibility however often they seek to shift the blame to others.