KIEV, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday ratified an agreement with the Netherlands on international legal cooperation regarding the 2014 crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.
According to the statement on their parliamentary website, the deal was approved by 241 lawmakers in the 450-seat assembly.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the agreement provides legal grounds to transfer the jurisdiction over the MH17 prosecution from Ukraine to the Netherlands, meaning that the suspects who downed the flight will be tried in Dutch courts.
MH17 crashed in the conflict zone located in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board perished, including 196 Dutch citizens.
In August 2014, authorities of the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Ukraine, and Malaysia had set up a joint team to conduct a criminal investigation into the crash.
The Dutch-led investigation team announced in May that the Buk missile launcher used to shoot down MH17 originated from Russia's 53rd anti-aircraft brigade stationed in Kursk, an accusation which Moscow has since denied.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that no new anti-aircraft missiles had crossed the border into Ukraine since 1991.
