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Dutch Foreign Minister to Raise MH17 Prosecutions on Visit to Moscow

Members of a group of international experts inspect wreckage at the site where the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed, near the village of Hrabove in Donetsk region.

AMSTERDAM — Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders will discuss efforts to prosecute suspects in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 while in Moscow on Friday, his office said in a statement.

Koenders will also discuss a Russian blacklist of European politicians during a meeting with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov, it said.

Roughly two-thirds of the 298 victims of the airline disaster on July 17 were Dutch. Suspects have yet to be identified by Dutch prosecutors.

The plane is widely believed to have been shot down with a surface-to-air missile launched by pro-Russian forces in Ukrainian territory, but Moscow denies involvement.

A Dutch Safety Board report on the precise cause of the crash is due in October.

The Netherlands is leading an international investigation into the disaster and has vowed to prosecute those responsible. But the case is unprecedented and it will be legally and politically challenging to put foreign suspects on trial

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