Moscow ‘continues dialogue’ with Netherlands over MH17 – Deputy FM

Dialogue between Russia and the Netherlands about the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine’s airspace in July 2014 has not been broken off, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko said on Friday. Moscow is “ready for the conversation,” he said, adding that Russia insists that the dialogue should take into account the information that it had passed to the investigators earlier. Such issues as Ukraine’s refusal to release primary data and Kiev’s responsibility for failing to close its airspace should also be considered, RIA Novosti quoted the diplomat as saying. The Kremlin has no information on any negotiations with the Netherlands on the crash of MH17 in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by TASS as saying on Friday. RTL channel reported on Thursday, citing the Dutch Foreign Ministry, that the Netherlands expects to start negotiations with Russia on the MH17 crash “as soon as possible.”