International prosecutors have revealed they found "strong indications" that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the use of a Russian missile system that shot down Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Key points:
- Investigators said further progress in the case was restricted by a lack of cooperation from Moscow
- Evidence "strongly" pointed towards the Russian president having signed off on the supply of the missile that downed the plane
- Putin will not be pursued as he is protected by immunity as a head of state
Speaking from the Hague, representatives from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which included representatives from the Netherlands and Australia, presented evidence implicating Mr Putin, including intercepted phone calls.
They did not suggest that Mr Putin ordered the aircraft to be shot down.
Ms van Boetzelaer was careful not to label Mr Putin a 'suspect', instead saying there were "strong indications, but we do not reach that high bar that it is a closed case".
As a head of state, Mr Putin is protected by immunity under Dutch law, which means the investigators are unable to pursue prosecution.
"Only after he is not a head of state can we look into what is next. Step by step," said Ms van Boetzelaer.
Investigators said they had come up against a wall in the investigation, largely due Russia's refusal to cooperate with the investigation, and would therefore be suspending it.
Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer said on Wednesday that "the investigation has now reached its limit."
"After eight-and-a-half years, the JIT has now exhausted all avenues of investigation," Ms van Boetzelaer said as the team began laying out the evidence it uncovered in its long-running investigation.
Ukraine, which was represented in the JIT, said it will continue to explore international legal mechanisms to try to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to justice.
"The difficulty of obtaining evidence and functional immunity do not allow prosecuting the president of the RF (Russian Federation) in national courts," Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin wrote on Twitter.
Flight MH17 was struck down by a BUK missile fired by Russian separatists as it tracked over the Donbas region in Ukraine on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 15, 2014.
There were 298 people on board, including 38 Australians, 193 Dutch citizens and 15 Malaysian crew. None survived.
Investigators said they were satisfied with what they had uncovered in terms of how the missile came to be in Ukraine.
How and why the order was made to shoot down the plane, however, remains a mystery.
"Our next answers, they lay in Russia. And as long as there is no cooperation, the answers will remain there," Dutch investigator Andy Kraag said.
As the investigation is suspended, it could be reopened if new evidence came to light.
Russia has always denied any involvement in the downing of the flight over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, and refused to cooperate with the international investigation.
Paul Guard, whose parents Roger and Jill Guard, from Toowoomba, died in the crash, said though he was grateful for the efforts of investigators to piece together what happened, he felt some disappointment that he may never know the details of why the plane was shot down.
"The answer of why it was shot down is something that may never be known since, as the investigators pointed out, it's fairly difficult to to work out unless Russia is going to cooperate, which it doesn't look like it will any time soon," he said.
Putin's phone call intercepted
The JIT representatives played recordings of a tapped phone conversation between Russian officials as evidence that Mr Putin's approval had been necessary before a request for equipment made by the separatists could be granted.
At the time, the separatists were asking Moscow for anti-aircraft systems to repel Ukrainian forces.
In addition, they played a 2017 conversation between Mr Putin himself and the Russian-appointed chief administrator of Ukraine's Luhansk province in which they discussed the military situation and a prisoner exchange.
Prosecutors said they could not identify the specific soldiers responsible for firing the missile system that downed the plane, which came from Russia's 53rd brigade in Kursk.
The JIT probe is separate to a criminal trial which, in November 2022, issued life sentences to Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubisnki and Ukrainian rebel commander Leonid Karchenko for their roles in the downing of the plane.
The court concluded the Malaysia Airlines flight had been mistaken for a Ukrainian military aircraft, and that the BUK missile had been fired deliberately to bring down the plane.
It found that even if the target had been a military aircraft rather than a civilian airliner, the three men were guilty of bringing down the plane and of mass murder.
In September 2022, Russia withdrew from the European Convention on Human Rights, but the court can still hear claims against Russia regarding actions up until that date.
ABC with wires