MH17 black boxes to be handed over to global probe team, Najib says

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the MH17 black boxes which were retrieved from the crash site will be handed to the international investigation team for further analysis.

He said the boxes appeared to be in good condition.

“They will held securely in Malaysian custody while the international investigation team is being formalised. At that time, we will pass the black boxes to the international investigation team,” he said in a statement today.

Najib expressed his satisfaction at the manner in which the agreement reached with the rebel leader Alexander Borodai, the self-styled Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, had progressed.

"The agreement with Borodai was to bring an end to the standoff over the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17," Najib said.

"Our agreement rests on three conditions, namely the return of the victims' remains, the handover of the flight recorder and full access to the crash site so that investigations can begin."

Najib said the first two conditions had been met as the flight recorders of MH17 had been handed over to Malaysian representatives.

"The train carrying the remains of the victims has arrived in Kharkhiv. Arrangements will be made to move the bodies to Amsterdam."

The Sydney Morning Herald today had reported that Najib had used “secret diplomacy” to reach an agreement with the rebels.

It added that while other world leaders blamed the separatists for their alleged hand in Thursday's crash, Najib had "cautiously refused" to join the chorus of blame, the paper reported.

Najib negotiated with rebel leader Alexander Borodai and sealed a deal "that achieved what more powerful nations, including Russia, could not".

Najib said that the discussions with Borodai had been due to extraordinary circumstances which called for extraordinary measures.

"There were risks in pursuing this agreement but we felt an obligation to explore all avenues to break the impasse.

"After meeting the next-of-kin of the victims, I felt we owed it to them to act to secure the remains of the victims and the flight recorders."

Najib said the agreement had been honoured and he hoped that the cooperation would continue.

"I hope that the investigators are granted full access to the crash site as was agreed upon."

He expressed relief that discussions had advanced sufficiently to achieve the breakthrough which has allowed all parties involved to move forward.

“I would like to thank the Malaysian team on the ground, who have worked hard to support this operation.

"Thanks to their efforts, we are closer to finding out what happened to aircraft, and fulfilling our shared responsibility to those who lost their lives.”

Earlier this morning, Russian ambassador to Malaysia Lyudmila G. Vorobyeva maintained her country's stance that it had not been involved in the MH17 disaster.

Vorobyeva said the various allegations which had been made against Russia had been baseless and without a shred of evidence.

She also thanked Putrajaya for its neutral stance in waiting for the results of an international probe instead of pointing fingers and making baseless accusations.

Vorobyeva told a press conference at the Russian embassy in Jalan Ampang today that Russia had been unfairly demonised by Western media.

"Where is the tangible evidence that Russia was involved in the MH17 disaster? All the finger pointing and accusations have been made without any proof.

"When the United States attacked Iraq in 2003, they claimed it was because the Middle Eastern country had weapons of mass destruction."

"However, until today, the world still awaits the evidence of WOMD which was the justification for the assault led by the United States."

She said the rebels in Donetsk did not possess the sophisticated BUK surface-to-air missile system nor had they been trained how to use it.

"The BUK missile system is a very sophisticated piece of equipment and only specially trained personnel can handle it."
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