ANKARA

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad Friday sought evidence to blame Russia for shooting down MH17 plane in 2014 killing 298 people, local media reported. 

Talking to Japanese Foreign Correspondent Club in Tokyo, Mahathir said that he wants “strong evidence” to show that Russia is responsible for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy in 2014, Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama reported.

“Malaysia accepted the investigation report of Holland but only up to the point where the plane was brought down by a missile made by Russia,” Mahathir said, adding: “Government agreed that the plane was brought down by a Russian missile, [but we] cannot be certain that the missile was launched by Russia.”

On July 17, 2019, MH17 flight departed from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, however, it was shot before crashing near Torez in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, about 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) away from the Russian border.

A total of 298 people, including 15 crew members, were killed in the crash.

A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) led by Holland claimed that a BUK TELAR missile was used to target MH17.

According to the JIT report, the missile originated from the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade -- a unit of the Russian army in Kursk in the Russian Federation.

However, Mahathir questioned the report asking for evidence.

“You need strong evidence to show it was fired by the Russians, it could be by the rebels in Ukraine, it could be Ukrainian government because they too have the same missile,” he said.

The Malaysian prime minister also said that his country should be involved in the investigating team that examined the black box of the plane.

He criticized efforts to pin the blame on the Russians, saying it is not “a neutral kind of examination.”

“Had a neutral party was examining and making the conclusion, Malaysia is willing to accept the findings but here we have parties with political interests in the matter,” he said.