ICAO holds Russia responsible for 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17
The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) concluded that the Russian Federation failed to uphold its obligations under international air law in connection with the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
The ruling, issued on May 12, 2025, marks the first time in ICAO’s history that its council has issued a determination on the merits of a dispute between member states under the organization’s dispute settlement mechanism.
The council found that claims brought by Australia and the Netherlands were “well-founded in fact and in law,” stating that Russia had breached Article 3 bis of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which obliges states to “refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight.”
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A decade-old tragedy
On July 17, 2014, MH17, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over eastern Ukraine. The aircraft was struck by a surface-to-air missile launched from separatist-controlled territory, killing all 298 people on board. Victims included 196 Dutch citizens, 43 Malaysians, and 38 Australians, along with passengers from several other countries.
A 2018 investigation by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) identified the weapon as a BUK missile system transported from Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, based in Kursk. In 2022, a Dutch court confirmed that the missile had been launched from an agricultural field near Pervomaiskyi, then-located in a separatist-controlled area of Ukraine.
The missile launcher of a BUK-M2 air defense system (Vitaly V. Kuzmin / Wikimedia Commons)International investigations and legal milestones
In November 2022, three men, Russians Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinsky, and Ukrainian Leonid Khartchenko, were convicted in absentia by a Dutch court for their role in the attack and sentenced to life imprisonment. A fourth defendant, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
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Girkin, a former Russian FSB colonel, was serving as the self-declared defense minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic at the time of the incident. Dubinsky and Pulatov were linked to separatist intelligence services, while Khartchenko was a member of a reconnaissance unit.
Presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis stated that “only the longest possible prison sentences would fit the gravity of the charges.”
Diplomatic fallout
Despite mounting international evidence and legal judgments, Russia has repeatedly denied involvement. In October 2020, Moscow unilaterally withdrew from trilateral negotiations with Australia and the Netherlands. After repeated attempts to reengage Moscow were rebuffed, the two nations initiated legal proceedings at ICAO in March 2022.
The ICAO Council’s decision reinforces the conclusions drawn by previous investigative and judicial bodies, but it also sets a new precedent for accountability in the international aviation community. While the decision is not enforceable like a court ruling, it carries substantial diplomatic weight and may influence future legal and reparative actions. The post ICAO holds Russia responsible for 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 appeared first on AeroTime.
The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) concluded that the Russian Federation failed to uphold its…
The post ICAO holds Russia responsible for 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 appeared first on AeroTime.
