From 17 July 2014 – the date when the Russian missile shot down the plane Malaysia Airlines over Ukraine, the U.S. state Department annually publish a statement on the anniversary of the tragedy, but… not this time.
The next day after 16 July, the President of the United States Donald trump met in Helsinki with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the state Department has already published a draft statement in which it strongly criticized Russia for its alleged role in the crash of MH17.
According to Foreign Policy, cached version of the website of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow you can find a brief critical statement was deleted on July 17. A us official confirmed to the journal that the text was indeed published and quickly deleted.
The state Department’s statement was supposed to appear on July 16 but at the last minute it was canceled. According to one of the anonymous officials familiar with the discussions on this issue, Secretary of state Mike Pompeo «did not approve» language of the document.
«Four years after the crash of MH17, the world is still waiting for the recognition of Russia on its part had said in a statement, a copy of which was provided to Foreign Policy. It is the time for Russia to stop its callous disinformation campaign and to fully support the next stage of the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the Downing of flight MH17».
Tributes to the 298 people flying flight MH17 tragic. The Airport Of Amsterdam. Source: flickr.com
The anniversary of the fall of Boeing has become really important in determining the role of Russia, because after 4 years of investigation, in late may, the joint investigation team under the leadership of the Public Prosecutor’s office of the Netherlands expressed its confidence that the plane was shot down by a missile from a Russian military unit located not far from the Ukrainian border.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul called the silence of the state Department on this issue «deeply disappointing», while the Ministry convinced they are talking enough about this issue.
«The United States government has long said that Russia is, without doubt, responsible for the MH17 disaster, said at a press conference on 18 July, press Secretary of the Department of state Heather Nauert. – We released three statements [about it] two and a half months.»
The G7 foreign ministers issued the following statement in advance of the anniversary of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight #MH17: https://t.co/TU7zCHKtL0
— Department of State (@StateDept) July 18, 2018
In the end, only the next day after the anniversary, when Foreign Policy asked the state Department with the appropriate question, the Agency finally issued a statement, signed Pompeo together with the foreign Ministers of the countries «the Big seven» and condemning Russia’s role in this incident.
