Ukraine Reiterates Demands From Iran Over Downed Airliner

Ukraine Reiterates Demands From Iran Over Downed Airliner

Ukraine Reiterates Demands From Iran Over Downed Airliner

Kyiv has once again demanded an “official apology” from Tehran for the downing of the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) passenger plane, killing all 176 onboard.

In an exclusive interview with Radio Farda’s Anna Rajskaya (Ra-yskaya), the head of international law at the Ukraine’s’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oksana Zolotaryova, has reiterated that the Islamic Republic should officially apologize for the tragedy, and identify person(s) responsible for firing missiles at UIA’s Boeing and downing it on January 8, over Tehran.

The three-year-old Boeing 737-800, flight 752 operated by the UIA, took off from Tehran international airport on January 8. A few minutes later, amid tension with the U.S., the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fired two anti-air missiles, bringing down the plane not too far from the airport.

Victims of the crash included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, eleven Ukrainians, ten Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three Britons. Canada, Ukraine, Germany, Britain, and Afghanistan have formed a group to pursue a thorough investigation of the incident.

Weeks later, haggling over the primary investigation, the fate of the plane’s black boxes kept in Iran, and the amount of compensation for the relatives of the victims are still outstanding.

Ukraine’s representative, Oksana Zolotaryova, admits that investigating such cases is a “lengthy procedure,” adding that after almost four years of negotiation about the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17’s (MH17) has not yet been completed.

MH17 was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on July 17, 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed.

However, Zolotaryova tells Radio Farda that Tehran still has time to cooperate with other countries to achieve justice.

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Read more at: RadioFarda

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