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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius welcomed the report into the downing of flight MH17 in July 2014, which was released by an international investigation team led by the Dutch Safety Board.

“Even though the investigation team has been unable to identify the perpetrators of this tragedy, it has found plenty of factual evidence, undoubtedly found out what happened, revealed the circumstances and the frightful progress of this heinous crime,” said Linkevičius.

The Foreign Minister underscored the importance of accountability and expressed his strong belief that further criminal investigation would manage to identify and bring to justice the real offenders, as set out in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2166.

Linkevičius voiced Lithuania’s strong support for the joint investigation team, consisting of representatives of law enforcement agencies of the Netherlands, Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia and Belgium. The Foreign Minister admitted that the investigation would require time and patience.

“I very much regret that the bid to set up the UN criminal tribunal for Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was vetoed by Russia. Now that the bid has been vetoed, accountability and justice for victims will take longer. Hopefully, the perpetrators will be identified and brought to justice,” said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister.

Linkevičius reminded that all the countries had a duty to honestly contribute to the investigation and to help identify and bring to justice the perpetrators. “Although we cannot lessen the heartaches felt by families of victims in this terrible tragedy, nevertheless, the international community must strive to achieve truth and justice for the victims – and only transparency, honesty and accountability can ensure this,” said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister.

Lithuania has consistently supported the independent investigation into the disaster and sought to ensure accountability.