Russia vetoes draft UN resolution on setting up tribunal for crashed Malaysian plane MH17

Liu Jieyi(C, front row), the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, abstained from voting at the UN Security Council on a draft UN Security Council resolution on the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate the downing of a Malaysian airliner last year, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, July 29, 2015. Russia on Wednesday vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution on the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate the downing of Malaysian airliner MH17. [Photo/Xinhua]

UNITED NATIONS - Russia on Wednesday vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution on the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate the downing of a Malaysian airliner last year.

Eleven of the Council's 15 members voted in favor, one against and three others abstained.

"We have repeatedly stated that we do not back the idea of the creation of a tribunal under the chapter 7 of the UN. There are no grounds for this," said Vitaly Churkin, Russian permanent representative to the UN, after the vote.

A Malaysia Airlines plane was brought down on July 17, 2014 when it was flying over the war zone in east Ukraine while en route from Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, killing all 298 people on board, 196 of whom were Dutch.

A preliminary report published last September said the plane " broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside."

The draft resolution by Malaysia has proposed that a tribunal be established to investigate the downing of MH17, with judges and prosecutor being appointed by the UN Secretary-General.