European court finds Russia responsible for MH17

July 10, 2025

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has unanimously ruled that Russia bears responsibility for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
The Boeing 777-200ER was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014.
Among the 283 passengers and 15 crew members killed were 17 nationalities, including 196 Dutch citizens, 43 Malaysians and 38 Australian citizens or residents.
Russia’s ‘cavalier attitude to civilians’
In a statement, the ECHR said Russia had “failed to take any measures to ensure accurate verification of the target of the missile or to safeguard the lives of those on board, showing a cavalier attitude to civilians at risk from its hostile activities”.
The statement continued: “It had also failed to carry out an effective investigation into the downing and had failed to cooperate with the JIT [international joint investigation team], disclosing inaccurate or fabricated information and adopting an obstructive approach to attempts to uncover the cause and circumstances of the crash.
“The next of kin of the crash victims had suffered profound grief and distress on account of the killing of their loved ones and the aftermath of the crash. Because of Russia’s refusal to arrange for the crash site to be secured, it took eight months to complete the recovery of the bodies.
“Some next of kin had had to bury the incomplete bodies of their relatives; in some cases body parts had been returned to them after the burial had taken place. In two cases, the victims’ bodies had never been recovered.
“The Russian authorities’ continued denial of involvement and their failure to carry out an effective investigation had prolonged the agonising wait for answers of the next of kin and had aggravated their suffering.
“The character and dimension of their continuing suffering had been sufficiently severe to amount to inhuman treatment.”
Kremlin response
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ahead of the ruling that Russia would not abide by any court decisions, saying: “We consider them null and void.”
In May, the council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) deemed Russia responsible for the downing of MH17, concluding that Russia’s use of surface-to-air missiles over eastern Ukraine violated Article 3 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
In a statement responding to ICAO’s ruling in May, the Russian ministry of foreign affairs said that the claims were “at odds with reality”, claiming it had submitted “exhaustive and convincing evidence and facts” prior to its withdrawal from the investigatory proceedings in June 2024.
It also claimed that Ukraine had refused to close the airspace over the combat zone “and used civilian aircraft like Flight MH17 as a cover-up for its bombers”.