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Mr. President, I welcome the Ministers of New Zealand, Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands and Ukraine to this Council. Your presence is a testament to the commitment by your Governments to seek accountability and justice for the downing of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 near Torez, Donetsk oblast, on 17 July last year. Our deepest sympathies go to the families of the victims in the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, New Zealand, Canada. Words may soothe the grieving families. But the heinous crime calls for an answer from this Council. It needs all States to co-operate fully in establishing accountability. This is what was precisely demanded by resolution 2166 unanimously adopted by this Council.

The veto by Russia has denied, for now, an avenue for the families of the victims to bring perpetrators to justice. The Russian actions are deeply troubling. They are hardly surprising. Since July 17 last year Russia has been acting with regard to the independent MH17 investigations as if having something to hide, somebody to mislead, someone to throw off course by disinformation. No exception today. The grim reality on the ground, though, belies the Russian narrative. 

Russia-backed illegal armed groups in control of the crash site tampered with evidence, for days and weeks precluded or restricted access for international experts and OSCE monitors. Only after immense international pressure independent investigators were able to conduct identification of the remains of the victims, collect the evidence. Their work is vital and we call on all states concerned to co-operate.   

The Dutch-led independent international investigation includes experts from Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine, the UK and the US, as well as from the European Aviation Safety Agency and ICAO and enjoys full trust and confidence by the concerned countries and the international community, including ICAO and the UN. We have confidence in the investigation, which is consistent with ICAO procedures and standards, Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention. We thank the Joint Investigation Team countries for their consistent reach-out and keeping this Council updated.

Mr. President,

Lithuania cosponsored the resolution put forward by Malaysia.  We, along with the majority of the Council members, send today a clear message: acts of violence against civilians will not go unpunished. Shooting down of MH17 constituted a threat to international peace and security, and it was a deliberate act.  Accountability is not a concept on paper.  The international tribunal backed by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter would have been the best way to ensure impartiality, independence of the process. We will support further efforts to pursue accountability, with or without Russia’s co-operation.

Mr. President,

Unhindered flow of arms, mercenaries and Russian troops into the sovereign territory of Ukraine created conditions for this tragedy to happen. Weeks before the downing of MH17, separatists claimed acquiring the SA-11 “Buk” missile system and using it to shoot down the An-26 cargo plane at high altitude. Such weapons cannot be bought in a downtown Luhansk market. Nor can they be operated by a Donbass miner.

The foreign-orchestrated conflict in the East of Ukraine continues unabated, despite Russian denials of non-involvement, as in the case of the occupation of Crimea. Cease-fires of September 2014 and of February 2015 were meant for regrouping by the combined Russian-separatist forces in Donbass. Recently 52.000 Russians troops have been amassed on the Ukrainian border. Merely at two Russian-Ukrainian border crossings the OSCE, since last fall, has counted 20.021 men in military uniforms crossing to and fro. That’s two divisions, not a single visa request. What would the OSCE be able to record if Russia were to carry out the Minsk agreements and allow OSCE to monitor vast areas in Donbass, including to the 400 km-long Ukrainian–Russian border?

Ominous signals do not stop at that. The OSCE has registered large concentrations of the heavy weapons in the militant-held areas, including in a railway-hub in Komsomolske. Only a few weeks ago Alexei Markov, of the Ghost Brigade in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, said that his fighters were eager to launch a summer offensive, "want weapons from Moscow - we have very few and are running short of supplies. We need more troops, more artillery, more combat vehicles".

All hostages and illegally detained persons were supposed to be released. Evidently, Russia finds other excuses to ignore resolution 2202. Nadia Savchenko, along with other illegally held Ukrainians remain in the Russian prisons, facing sham trials.   

Mr. President,

The Minsk agreements must be implemented in good faith. The Trilateral Contact Group, OSCE and the UN should play critical roles. Only if Russia and its militants stop paying lip service to the agreements. Under the most difficult circumstances Ukraine is implementing the Minsk agreements. It has started a Constitutional reform. It has taken genuine efforts to implement painful reforms, fight corruption, free itself of the past. Ukraine must be free to pursue the path of reforms its people have chosen.

Mr. President,

Our solemn duty today was not to take sides, but to ensure that justice is served. The Council failed at this task. Today’s veto was a desperate attempt to delay accountability, yet the efforts of the international community will not end here and those responsible will be held to account.   

I thank you.