MH17 crash: Russia vetoes UN resolution for criminal tribunal

Vladimir Putin said a tribunal would be "counter productive"

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Russia has vetoed a United Nations draft resolution seeking to set up an international criminal tribunal into the MH17 air disaster in Ukraine.

Eleven of the 15 members of the UN Security Council voted in favour of the resolution, while three abstained.

The Malaysian Airlines plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed last July, killing all 298 people on board.

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have denied shooting down the aircraft.

Western nations say there is evidence it was hit by a Russian-supplied missile.

'Callous disregard'

Malaysia pushed for a tribunal, so those responsible can be prosecuted. It was backed by the Netherlands - that had 196 people on board - Ukraine, Belgium and Australia.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected claims that pro-Russian rebels were behind the crash, instead blaming the government in Kiev for the disaster.

Security council members gathered at the UN headquarters in New York for the vote

Speaking earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the the establishment of a tribunal would be "premature" and "counter-productive".

Russia exercised its veto at the Security Council session in New York on Wednesday, while Angola, China and Venezuela abstained.

"Russia has callously disregarded the public outcry in the grieving nations," Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN said.

Victims' families marked the first anniversary of their deaths on 17 July

Vitaly Churkin - Russia's UN representative - defended his country's actions, saying any criminal prosecutions would have been carried out in a "closed fashion".

He also criticised "aggressive... propaganda in the media" and said Russian investigators had been denied equal access to the crash site.

Moscow drafted an alternative resolution that did not include a tribunal, but called for a full international investigation.

Malaysia's transport minister had appealed to Council members to vote in favour of a tribunal, saying it would be best placed to "deliver justice to the families of the victims".

A final report on the cause of the crash by the Dutch Safety Board is due to be released in October.

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