The tragedy of flight MH17, which marks its tenth anniversary on Wednesday, was a collective trauma that remains etched in the memory of the Netherlands. A decade ago, on July 17, 2014, a Malaysian Airlines plane leaving Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-made Buk missile. All 298 passengers from 16 countries were killed, including 196 Dutch nationals. The Joint International Team (JIT) that investigated the incident concluded in 2023 that there were “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the deployment of the launch vehicle used by pro-Russian separatists to launch the missile. In 2022, the Dutch courts had already sentenced two Russian citizens and one Ukrainian – tried in absentia – to life imprisonment for their role in the catastrophe.
The memorial service for the victims will be attended on Wednesday by King Willem-Alexander of Orange and Prime Minister Dick Schoof. Some 1,300 relatives of the deceased are also expected to attend, and their names will be read out. The ceremony will take place in front of the National Monument dedicated to all those who died, in the town of Vijfhuizen, located 16 kilometers from Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 took off from there. The municipalities of Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, among others, have announced that they will lower their flags to half-mast. The same will be done at the Ministry of General Affairs, of which Schoof’s office is part. On Tuesday, the European Union reiterated its call to Russia “to accept its responsibility in this tragedy and to cooperate fully in the service of justice,” according to a statement issued by the office of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell. “No Russian disinformation operation can distract from these basic facts established by a court of law,” the statement added.
The downing of MH17 shocked the international community, as it was a commercial flight with civilian passengers. For the Dutch government, it also meant being drawn into a geopolitical conflict that later influenced its support for the war in Ukraine. Along with the Netherlands, the JIT included representatives from Australia, Malaysia, Belgium – where most of the passengers came from – and Ukraine. According to its findings, a Russian-made Buk missile was fired from an agricultural field in eastern Ukraine. It pierced the left side of the cockpit and the shock wave broke the fuselage, causing it to fall.
JIT experts concluded that the missile belonged to the Russian 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade and was transported to Ukraine from a military base near the city of Kursk. It was then returned to the same place. The Dutch courts took charge of the case and, in 2020, two Russian citizens and one Ukrainian were prosecuted in absentia for their role in transporting the missile. Sergei Dubinsky, Igor Girkin and Leonid Kharchenko were sentenced to life imprisonment respectively. Russia refuses to extradite them and it has not been possible to arrest them. Oleg Pulatov, a fourth suspect, a Russian national, was acquitted. Moscow maintains that it was not involved in the downing of the aircraft.
In February 2023, the JIT itself indicated that it had “strong evidence” that President Putin authorized the deployment of the Buk missile launcher. It does not yet have sufficient evidence to file new lawsuits, but there are other legal fronts open. This is the procedure initiated by the Netherlands and Australia before the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), to compensate the relatives of the victims. This organization, which includes 193 countries – including Russia – can rule under the Chicago Convention. In the case of MH17, this treaty would have been violated by the illegal use of a weapon against a civilian aircraft. In June 2024, a hearing on the downing of the plane took place at the European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg. This decision will take at least a year.
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“Turning point” in relations with Russia
In the days following the crash, the Dutch government decided not to publicly condemn Russia despite indications of its involvement in the incident. It wanted to avoid thwarting the repatriation of the bodies, who fell in Donbas, a region in eastern Ukraine where the independent republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had declared themselves. Although not internationally recognised, they had military and financial support from the Kremlin.
This approach is evident from statements made this July to Dutch public television, NOS, by Prime Minister Schoof, who said: “The most important thing [en aquel primer momento] “The key was not to alienate Russia.” In 2014, he was the National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism and Security, and with that strategy the Netherlands secured Russian support for a UN resolution in favour of an independent investigation into the catastrophe. He also secured the necessary cooperation to remove the bodies of the victims in an area of open armed conflict.
Once the bodies were repatriated, in an operation that left a huge mark on public opinion in the country due to the image of the arrival of hundreds of coffins, the Dutch tone changed. On the same television programme, Tom Middendorp, former commander of the Armed Forces – the highest ranking position – said that “the flight disaster became a turning point in our relations with Russia”. Moscow distanced itself from supporting a tribunal for the MH17 case within the framework of the United Nations to find out the truth. After the disaster, “we began to see Russia as a major adversary on the international scene; really, we would not have imagined it like that ten years ago”, says Schoof.
The families of the 298 deceased have set up a foundation and are planning to turn the remains of the plane, which was partially reconstructed, into an essential part of the information and documentation centre on what happened that they hope to create with the support of the Dutch government. They see it as a way of completing the place of remembrance now designated by the Vijfhuizen National Monument, while they continue their search for justice.
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