Ukraine extends deal with Netherlands on MH17 crash probe

KIEV, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday signed a bill to extend the deal with the Netherlands on the MH17 crash investigation until Aug. 1, 2018, the Ukrainian presidential press service said.

The agreement, which was signed between Ukraine and the Netherlands on July 28, 2014, was due to expire on Jan. 1 next year.

The deal provides legal grounds for the Netherlands, which leads the international probe into the MH17 crash, to send an international mission to Ukraine for carrying out the investigation.

The mission could consist of military and non-military personnel from the Netherlands and other states whose citizens were killed in the crash.

The Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 crashed in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, including 196 Dutch citizens.

In August 2014, authorities from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Ukraine, and Malaysia have set up a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to conduct a criminal investigation into the crash.

A report published by the JIT in September 2016 concluded that the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 was shot down by a Buk missile which was brought from Russia to Ukraine.

Moscow and the rebel leadership in east Ukraine have denied the allegations, saying that the plane was shot by a missile from the territory controlled by Ukrainian government troops.

In December 2016, JIT said that it has identified about 100 people, who are linked to the crash.

On Monday, Ukrainian and Dutch law enforcement chiefs, particularly Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko and his Dutch counterpart Fred Westerbeke, met in Kiev to exchange their views on the interim results of the MH17 crash investigation. Enditem