Four charged with murder over shot-down MH17

Families welcome news as suspects are named

International arrest warrants have been issued for three Russian men and one from Ukraine after authorities investigating the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane over Eastern Ukraine in July 2014 named their suspects.

After revealing the news to the families of the 298 people killed in the flight, the Netherlands'National Police chief Wilbert Paulissen told a media conference that three Russians - Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy, Oleg Pulatov - and one Ukrainian - Leonid Kharchenko–had been charged with murder.

He added that more suspects"higher up the chain of command" may be identified at a later date but at the moment there was insufficient evidence.

Moscow meanwhile said the MH17 charges are based on "absolutely unfounded allegations", according to AFP.

Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was brought down by a missile when flying over disputed territory held by pro-Russian separatists, identified as being from the Russian 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade, based in the Western Russian city of Kursk. All those on board, most of whom were Dutch, were killed.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said the downing of the plane was a"terrible tragedy"but has denied any Russian involvement. The Kremlin insists it did not lend any support to the rebels fighting Ukrainian state troops, and has not co-operated with the investigation, but the Dutch and Australian governments have said they hold Russia legally responsible.

"We have the proof that the Russian federation is involved in this tragedy, this crime, in one way or another," says chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke.

"They were in a position to tell us exactly what happened, and they didn't give us this information. I would not call this co-operation.

"The Russian federation has not disclosed anything that happened and that is a slap in the face for all the relatives of the victims, and I call out to them to start co-operating."

The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team, which also includes members from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine, said the four named suspects were believed to be responsible for transporting the Buk missile used to shoot down the plane. They are likely to be tried in their absence at a hearing starting in the Hague on March 9 next year.

Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce and his girlfriend Daisy Oehlers were among the victims, welcomed the announcement, saying: "This is what we hoped for. This is a start of it. It is a good start."

The loss of Flight MH17 came just months after the disappearance of another Malaysian Airlines flight,MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, in March 2014.

Before Flight MH17 took off, one of the passengers, Dutchman Cor Pan, posted a photograph of the aeroplane on Facebook with a black humor joke"If the plane disappears, this is what it looks like."