Russia’s ambassador to Australia has rejected demands from the federal government it pay compensation to the families of the 38 Australian victims of downed plane MH17.
Grigory Logvinov has responded to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s demands after she declared that Australia holds Russia legally responsible for its role in the tragedy.
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has since called on Australia to kick Mr Logvinov out of the country if Moscow refuses to apologise, The Australian reported on Tuesday.
‘A country can’t be complicit in the death of 38 Australians and face no consequences. If the Russians don’t apologise, we should expel the Russian ambassador until they do,’ Mr Abbott told the publication.
Russia’s ambassador to Australia Grigory Logvinov (pictured) has rejected demands from the federal government that pay compensation to the families of the 38 Australian victims killed in the downing of flight MH17
All 298 people on board were killed, including 38 Australians when the MH17 (pictured) was shot down in 2014
The Joint Investigation Team confirmed last Thursday that the MH17 was shot down by a Buk-TELAR missile belonging to the 53rd Brigade of the Russian army.
The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down on July 17, 2014.
All 298 people on board were killed, including 38 Australians.
In response to Mr Abbott’s calls to expel diplomats, Ms Bishop said ‘further options will be considered in due course’, The Australian reported.
‘We are discussing Russia’s actions with other nations,’ Ms Bishop said.
An unnamed federal MP told the publication that expelling diplomats would have no impact and that Australia should instead focus on Russian cyber attacks.
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbot has since called on Australia to kick Russian ambassador Grigory Logvinov (pictured in March) out of the country if Moscow refuses to apologise
The Joint Investigation Team confirmed last week that the MH17 (pictured) was shot down by a Buk-TELAR missile that belonged to the 53rd Brigade of the Russian army.
On Sunday, Mr Logvinov rejected the Joint Investigation Team’s findings, despite repeatedly expressed our attitude towards the quality of the JIT’s work’.
‘Despite of everything, all our efforts to commence a serious, solid and professional joint work are rejected out of hand,’ he said in a lengthy media statement.
‘There is a well-known style, a rough, clumsy algorithm. Dirty provocations are organised, and the guilty side is determined in advance. The so-called ‘investigation’ is conducted almost completely on the basis of information from social networks and several international non-governmental organisations, which have tainted themselves long ago by fakes, forgeries, primitive fabrications and so on.’
Foreign minister Julie Bishop, pictured with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, has demanded that Russia pay compensation to the families of the 38 Australian victims killed in the downing of MH17
The Boeing 777 passenger jet was shot down 100 miles east of Donetsk, Ukraine in July 2014
Mr Logvinov likened investigations of the MH17 flight to the problems surrounding the search for MH370, which vanished several months earlier and is yet to be found.
‘It was indicative, that now the attention is focused again on the MH370 disappearance investigation in connection with new expert conclusions, which document possible mistakes of the version, worked out by the international investigation team,’ Mr Logvinov said in the statement.
‘In this case the Australian authorities do not deny the possibility, that the investigation is going in a wrong direction. However, they do not admit even a hint of such doubts regarding the MH17 tragedy.
‘Therefore, we obviously see double standards, which only confirm that we are dealing with preliminary planned provocation, and MH17 passengers, including Australian citizens, are its victims.’
Mr Logvinov said Russia will continue to provide assistance so that the truth is established and the true perpetrators are brought to justice.
‘However it is time to get rid of the illusion, that someone can speak with us in such a prosecutorial manner and expect that we will resignedly accept these unsubstantiated allegations,’ his statement concluded.