President Poroshenko extends mandate of MH17 crash investigation mission with the Netherlands

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President Poroshenko of Ukraine extended the mandate with the Netherlands till Augustus 2018. The mandate would end in January 2018. Ukrainian and Dutch governments ratified the agreement on the mission’s mandate in Ukraine in July 2017; it has been prolonged several times since then.

Ukraine media is not very clear about what the mandate is for. I understand the mandate is a new law which was passed by the Ukraine parliament in July 2014 which allows Dutch policeofficers to enter the crash site and do investigation into the cause of the crash. The mandate is not related to the Joint Investigation Team agreement which was signed by the 5 grieving nations.

The extended mandate allows Dutch persons, which are allowed to carry weapons,  to search the crash site for human remains. In July 2017 Patrick Lancaster found bones which belonged to passengers. So it is still possible a new recovery mission will be performed in the near future.

Photo credit: Press Service of the President of Ukraine

 

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