Bulgarian President joins calls for ‘immediate and full’ international investigation into downing of MH17 over Ukraine
Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev has joined calls for an immediate and full international investigation to determine the causes and those responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.
International media reports quoted US officials as saying that the aircraft was brought down by a surface-to-air missile. Many fingers are being pointed as pro-Russian forces that control the area where the plane was downed, killing 298 people of various nationalities, most of them Dutch.
Plevneliev’s office said that he had sent condolences to the heads of state of the Netherlands and of Malaysia and expressed the Bulgarian nation’s condolences to the families and relatives of those who died.
He strongly condemned any act of violence that led to loss of life, and added that the tragedy was further evidence of the threats to stability and security in Europe arising from the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Plevneliev reiterated his calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a lasting political solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said that the Ukrainian foreign ministry had reported that there were no Bulgarian citizens on the passenger list of the flight.
The embassies of Bulgaria in The Hague, Kyiv and Jakarta – which is also accredited to Malaysia – were in constant contact with the relevant local authorities, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said.
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences to the families and relatives of the dead and insisted on a “full investigation” into the causes of the tragic event, the ministry said.