KYIV. Feb 2 (Interfax) - Dutch prosecutors cannot study primary radar data received from the Russian side with regard to the July 2014 crash of the Malaysian Boeing in Donbas due to its format inconsistent with international standards, but the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that investigators will be able to properly assess the data.
"The information submitted by the Russian Federation, which, according to Russian mass media and so-called experts, the Dutch investigators were unable to decode, was actually presented in a format that is inconsistent with ICAO standards. And that is exactly why it cannot be used by the investigators right now. That's why the Dutch side has to apply to Russia with an additional inquiry," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official Mariana Betsa said when asked by Interfax.
In any case, the Netherlands National Prosecutor's office will assess the new files it has received from Russia in terms of their suitability for any use in the criminal probe, Betsa said.
"The investigation continues regarding specific suspects, the subordination chain and the command chain in order to promptly submit the case to the court instance for consideration. Ukraine is strongly committed to finding out the truth and prosecuting those guilty of the MH17 crash," she said.
However, Betsa noted that the Dutch investigators stated clearly, back when presenting preliminary results of the probe into the MH17 crash, that they had received enough information about radar data concerning the criminal case.
"It was pointed out: the evidence that the investigators then had was 'more than enough to come to conclusions in the criminal probe' and that no additional evidentiary material is needed. Russia seems to be unwilling to see the things that are obvious to everyone: the investigators advanced further a long time ago," Betsa said.
A few media organizations reported earlier that investigators of the Netherlands National Prosecutor's office had to request that Moscow once again present the radar data since it was impossible to decode the data earlier received from Russia due to its wrong format.