Hisham To Seek Kyiv Nod To Access MH17 Crash Site
Hisham To Seek Kyiv Nod To Access MH17 Crash Site
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Published on Friday, 05 September 2014 10:02
Pic: NSTPETALING JAYA: Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein will visit Kyiv, Ukraine next Monday to assess whether the crash site where flight MH17 was downed will be accessible for further investigation to be continued.
He said the move, which was upon the instruction of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and agreed upon by the cabinet, was to ensure that Malaysia gets access to Donetsk as soon as possible.
“We need to get the relevant parties (Kyiv, Moscow and Amsterdam) to agree for our investigators to go back to the crash site as soon as possible. The objective of the visit is to get assurance that our investigation experts are given a safe passage and they will be given room to conduct investigations on the rest of the MH17 remains so that they can be brought home.
“We hope the Ukrainian government and separatists will fulfil our request and enable us to bring home the remains to their families,” said Hishammuddin, adding that it was important for him to get a guarantee of safe passage before sending Malaysian personnel there.
“I do not want to risk their safety, therefore, this visit is important for us to find out whether an agreement can be achieved before we can decide to send our investigation team back there,” he said before a sending-off ceremony for the Malaysian Battalion 850-2 (Malbatt 850-2) for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) at the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang yesterday.
Hishammuddin said he would be accompanied by deputy foreign minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin and Armed Forces chief General Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin.
He added that after the Ukraine visit he would be going to Russia and the Netherlands to coordinate and hold discussions on search efforts and the mission to find those responsible in the downing of flight MH17 and to bring them to justice.
– NST
http://www.nst.com.my/node/30232
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