American lawyer Jerome Skinner stated that Russian President should personally atone for the death of the passengers of the Malaysian Boeing that crashed above Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
The lawyer representing interests of the victims from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and the Netherlands published an open letter to Putin in the Sydney Morning Herald demanding a meeting with the Russian president. In the letter, the lawyer urged Vladimir Putin to repent for the victims of the Boeing 777 crash over Ukraine.
"My clients have waited three years, Mr Putin. There is still no accountability. Do you not feel that such tragic loss deserves explanation? I will use the European Court of Human Rights and every other avenue available to bring the Kremlin to accountability. Meet me and finally make amends for the victims of this tragedy," the lawyer from rural Ohio wrote in the article.
The open letter penned by Jerome Skinner was published one week after the countries participating in the investigation of the MH17 flight disaster - Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine - agreed that the litigation on the case would be carried out within the justice system of the Netherlands, DW wrote.
"Wonderful. Even before the court decision, a lawyer has found the culprit and demands repentance from him, even though many Russian and Western experts point out Ukraine's guilt in the tragedy. I wonder if this lawyer knows the expression about a one-way erotic journey. This is an attempt to show an emotional, a psychiс, I would say, influence on the Russian leadership," the head of the Center for Political Information Alexei Mukhin told politonline.ru
"This can be called an element of the information war. Attempts to demonise Russia do not stop. The lawyer's letter is an episode of the struggle, the purpose of which is to say that the black colour is white and the white colour is black. I believe that the lawyer is trying to work for the money that has been spent on him," the political scientist believes.
"The lawyer wants to make money, to make his clients believe that he defends their interests as much as he can. He also seeks support from political circles of the West engaged in the persecution of Vladimir Putin, blaming Russia for the disaster," director of the Institute for Political Studies Sergei Markov told politonline.ru.
"Russia should have insisted the investigation be conducted in a neutral country. There is no independent investigation of the tragedy now. The statement from the lawyer is a clear symptom indicating that no compromise is possible between Russia and those who arrange such outright falsification. This is a real political war," the expert believes.
Earlier, an official group to investigate the 2014 crash of the Malaysian Boeing released official statements about the progress of the investigation.
The group came to conclusion that the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, which fired the missile at the aircraft, belonged to separatists. It was also said that the system was delivered to Ukraine from Russia. At the same time, the experts did not hesitate to report that their report was based on the data collected from social networks. The real meaning of "social network data" is easy to understand: it goes about Bellingcat "investigators."
The Russian Ministry of Defence, Russian Air Force and radio specialists conducted a joint briefing in the autumn of 2016, at which all parties presented their evidence and reported that there were Ukrainian air defences located in the area of the air crash. "On the day of the crash of the Malaysian liner, Russia registered Ukrainian radar stations in the region, which confirms the presence of Kiev's air defence systems in the zone of the crash," Russian Air Force officers said at the briefing.
"Kiev has not yet published any information about the location of its Buk systems on the day of the MH-17 disaster; information about conversations between flight control officers has not been exposed either," Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Defense Ministry said.
Most experts are convinced that the air crash would not have happened if Ukraine had closed its airspace in the area of hostilities. To crown it all, according to the NRC Handelsblad publication, Holland had tried to constructively cooperate with Ukrainian intelligence services in the investigation, although to no avail.