You're reading: Ukraine, Netherlands sign memo on inquiry into MH17 crash

Ukraine and the Netherlands have signed the memorandum of understanding on the investigation into the circumstances of the July 17 crash of Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane at a meeting of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans and Australia Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

“Under the memorandum, taking into account the fact that the majority
of victims of the crash are citizens of the Netherlands, Ukraine, as a
country where the tragedy happened, delegates the authority to the
Netherlands to investigate the case. This is stated in the agreement
between the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine
and the respective agency of the Netherlands,” reads a statement posted
on the Web site of the Ukrainian president.

The Netherlands will coordinate the investigation of all
circumstances of the tragedy and will be responsible for the holding of
the inquiry under Annex 13, part 5 of the Chicago Convention. The
Netherlands will ensure the participation of other parties concerned,
particularly Ukraine, as a country where the event took place, Malaysia,
as a country-owner of the aircraft, the United States, as a
country-manufacturer of the aircraft and the ICAO, the president’s press
service said.

It is planned to sign a joint agreement with the Australian
government on the participation of Australia in the mission to protect
the international investigation, the president said.

Justice will be served and after everything we went through,
Ukrainians are a brotherly nation to us, the Dutch foreign minister said
after signing the document.

The memorandum was signed in the presence of the Ukrainian president
by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and his Dutch counterpart
Timmermans.