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Julie Bishop condemns Russia

Getty

Getty

Foreign minister Julie Bishop has denounced Russia for ‘making a mockery’ of justice for MH17 victims by blocking an international criminal tribunal to punish those who shot down the passenger jet.

Russia used its veto power to overrule the members of the UN Security Council, the majority of whom voted for the proposal to establish the tribunal.

“The exercise of the veto today is an affront to the memory of the 298 victims of MH17 and their families and friends,” Ms Bishop told the UN Security Council on Thursday morning.

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“The veto only compounds the atrocity … only one hand was raised in opposition but a veto should never be allowed to deny justice.

“The recital of discredited contentions and anticipated excuses and obfuscations by the Russian Federation should be treated with the upmost disdain.”

mh17 un security council

Members of the UN Security Council pause for a minutes silence before the vote.

Ms Bishop personally lobbied Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin to refrain from using the veto power.

“Russia has made a mockery of its own commitment to accountability,” she said.

Veteran journalist Jim Middleton has described the speech as one of the most powerful of any Australian politician in recent times.

“A more powerful speech by an Australian leader I have not seen on the international stage since probably 1989,” Jim Middleton told Sky News.

Tony Abbott calls Russian veto “outrageous”

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement: “Russia has shown complete disregard for the families’ right to know who was responsible and to see these criminals face justice.”

Mr Abbott has been on the attack, towards Russia, all through the MH17 saga. Photo: AAP

Mr Abbott has been on the attack, towards Russia, all through the MH17 saga. Photo: AAP

“Its actions reinforce concerns Russia is protecting the perpetrators and continuing to assault the sovereignty of Ukraine,” Mr Abbott said.

“Russia’s veto of the United Nations Security Council resolution to establish a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the MH17 atrocity is outrageous.”

Mr Abbott said Australia will keep working so that justice is done. 

Russia was the only member of the Security Council to vote against the proposal, although Angola, China and Venezuela abstained.

Moscow’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, had vowed to use the veto power, arguing the tribunal might not be unbiased.

“What are the grounds to be assured of the impartiality of such an investigation?” he said in a speech to the Council after the vote.

He asked how it could resist an “aggressive backdrop of propaganda in the media”.

The United States ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said the veto was an attempt by Russia to deny justice, but warned it would fail.

“Russia has callously disregarded the public outcry in the grieving nations, the appeals of the families affected.

“But let us be clear: today’s veto cannot and will not deny the victims and their families justice.”

The Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17 last year, an hour into its flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 passengers and crew, including 39 Australian citizens and residents, were killed.

The Security Council session began with a moment’s silence in honour of those killed in the July 2014 disaster.

– with AAP

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