The Russian Federation challenged its involvement in the downing of flight MH17 in the UN court

Russia filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice of the United Nations against the decision of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which recognized its involvement in the downing of flight MH17 in July 2014. This was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

In a large statement on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, traditional accusations against Western countries and the ICAO of bias and allegedly ignoring the arguments of the Russian side in the case of the MH17 disaster are heard.

“The decision of the ISAO Council, thus, has been challenged by the Russian side on all aspects – on grounds of jurisdiction, applicable law, facts, as well as in connection with fatal violations of the procedure”, the message says.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation emphasized that the appeal of the decision “in no way means legitimization or recognition by the Russian side of any acts of the ISAO Council in this case”, because Russia announced its withdrawal from the dispute in 2024.

Recall that in May 2025, the ICAO Council decided that Russia was responsible for the downing of flight MH17 in July 2014, thereby violating the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention).

This decision was made following a complaint that the Netherlands and Australia filed against Russia in March 2022. It paves the way for the affected countries to receive compensation, but at the time of the appeal it is considered not to have entered into force.

In July 2014, militants of the so-called “DPR” downed flight MH17 “Amsterdam – Kuala Lumpur” over the east of Ukraine. All 298 people on board died.