Russia Vetoes U.N. Resolution on Tribunal for Malaysia Airlines Crash in Ukraine
By RICK GLADSTONE

UNITED NATIONS — Infuriating nations that lost citizens in the destruction of a Malaysian jetliner last year over eastern Ukraine, Russia blocked a Security Council resolution on Wednesday that would have created a tribunal to prosecute and punish those found responsible.

The Russians suggested the measure was a biased and politically motivated propaganda move to implicate the Kremlin or the Kremlin-backed Ukrainian separatists in control of eastern Ukraine.

Although the Russian veto was not unexpected, it resurrected the tensions and bitter feelings precipitated by the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner, which appeared to have been hit by a sophisticated missile and plunged in pieces on July 17, 2014, onto a wheat field near the Russian border, killing all 298 people aboard.

The disaster elevated the simmering pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine into an international crisis.

While the passenger manifest listed people from more than a dozen nations, many aboard the plane, Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, were Dutch, and the Netherlands has been taking the lead in investigating the disaster. Four other countries are collaborating with the inquiry — Malaysia, Ukraine, Australia and Belgium.

“We are deeply disappointed,” said the Malaysia transport minister, Liow Tiong Lai, who attended the Council session and spoke in support of the resolution before the vote.

“Families of the victims will have to wait even longer,” he told reporters later outside the Council chambers. But echoing remarks by ministers from the other nations investigating the cause, he said, “The perpetrators, wherever they come from, must be held to account.”

Bert Koenders, the Dutch foreign minister, told reporters it “does not come as a complete surprise” that Russia had blocked the resolution. Nonetheless, he said, “I find it incomprehensible that a member of the Security Council obstructs justice.”

Mr. Koenders said that the veto should not be interpreted as a defeat, and that other legal remedies were under consideration. “We will very quickly agree on the next step,” he said. “I assure you we haven’t lost time.”

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop of Australia, who also attended the Council vote, called the veto “a mockery of Russia’s commitment to accountability.”

The United States, which was among the first to accuse the pro-Russia separatists of complicity because of surveillance data that indicated a missile strike launched from their territory, added its voice to the criticism.

“By vetoing this resolution, Russia has tried to deny justice to the 298 victims on that plane, and deny their families a chance to hold accountable those responsible,” said Samantha Power, the United States ambassador.

Malaysia introduced the Security Council resolution, which was aimed at enforcing accountability for the downing of Flight 17 as called for in a resolution unanimously adopted by the council four days after the disaster.

The vote in the 15-member Council was 11 to 1. Three countries — China, Angola and Venezuela — abstained.

Russia, one of the five permanent members of the Council, along with Britain, China, France and the United States, has veto power over any resolution.

Explaining the veto, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly I. Churkin, said his country wanted a “rapid determination of guilt” for whoever was found responsible. But he also questioned the impartiality of the tribunal envisioned in the resolution. “Can it resist propaganda?” he said.

Mr. Churkin also accused the resolution’s sponsors of proceeding with the vote even while knowing Russia would object.

“This, in our view, indicates the fact that political purposes were more important for them than practical objectives,” he said.

Ukraine’s government accused Kremlin-backed separatists of using a Russian-made missile to shoot down the plane. Russia has suggested that Ukrainian forces may have been responsible — with either a missile or a warplane. It has also questioned why Ukrainian aviation authorities permitted Flight 17 to traverse airspace where they knew armed conflict could put aircraft at risk.

Russia strongly signaled its intent to veto the resolution a few weeks ago, when President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia forcefully rejected the idea of a tribunal in a telephone call to Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands. Mr. Putin called it an “untimely and counterproductive initiative.”

烏東馬航誰擊落？ 俄否決聯合國查案

聯合國欲設置特別法庭，追究馬來西亞航空MH17航班去年七月在烏克蘭東部遭擊落的責任歸屬，並在廿九日就這項決議案草案進行表決，但法案遭俄羅斯動用否決權封殺。安理會的西方強權以及澳洲、荷蘭均抨擊俄國。

聯合國安理會十五個成員國廿九日晚就決議案草案進行表決，其中英、法、美等十一國表贊成，中國大陸、安哥拉、委內瑞拉棄權，唯獨俄國動用否決權投反對票。根據「聯合國憲章」，安理會常任理事國英、法、美、中、俄必須一致同意才能通過任何決議。上述草案是由馬國推動，並由馬國、澳洲、比利時、荷蘭、烏克蘭起草。

馬航MH17航班去年七月十七日從阿姆斯特丹飛往吉隆坡時，在烏東頓內次克地區上空發生空難，機上二九八名乘客與機組人員悉數罹難。乘客多為荷蘭人，另有卅八名澳洲公民與居民，澳洲一再要求揪出空難元凶。證據顯示，客機係遭到俄國提供給烏東民兵的一枚山毛櫸飛彈擊落，但俄國始終否認與空難有關，將事故歸咎烏國軍方。

安理會就馬航MH17案表決前，俄國駐聯合國大使邱爾金發表冗長言論，捍衛俄國的行動，並一再將責任歸咎他人。邱爾金指出，在進入失事現場調查上，俄國調查員並未獲得公平待遇 ，國際法庭調查最後會變成一場黑箱的刑事控告。

俄國的行動引來西方強權與澳洲、荷蘭的罵聲，堅稱尋求讓元凶繩之以法的努力不會就此沉寂。

澳洲總理艾伯特痛批俄國之舉「瘋狂」，令人懷疑俄國在包庇犯人。

美國駐聯合國大使珊曼莎．鮑爾說，執行這項罪行的人，無法永遠不曝光或不受懲罰。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/world/europe/russia-vetoes-un-resolution-on-tribunal-for-malaysia-airlines-crash-in-ukraine.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/world/20150730/c30nations/zh-hant/

2015-07-31．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯王麗娟