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FR
DEThe foreign ministers of Ukraine, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement on the anniversary of the tragic downing of Flight PS752 near Tehran.
“One year ago, in the early morning of 8 January 2020, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was downed by two Iranian military surface-to-air missiles near Tehran. All 176 people on board, including passengers and crew members, were tragically killed just minutes after the plane took off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport.
On the first anniversary of the tragedy, we, the foreign ministers of the five countries affected by the plane crash – Ukraine, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Afghanistan – honour the memory of those who perished and offer our sincere condolences to all who mourn the PS752 victims.
We share the grief of the families, relatives and friends who lost loved ones,” the statement reads.
The foreign ministers of the five states stressed that they will work to establish all the circumstances of this crime to the smallest detail. They also noted that the bitter lessons of this plane crash must now be learned in order to minimise the risk of such tragedies recurring in the future.
In addition, the joint statement says that the authorities of the five countries are determined to ensure a transparent investigation of the crime, proper punishment for all guilty of the crime and the achievement of justice for the sake of relatives and friends of the victims of the tragedy.
The day before, Ralph Goodale, Special Adviser to Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau for Canada’s ongoing response to the Ukraine International Airlines tragedy, said that the country’s authorities were not satisfied with Iran’s offer to pay the families of the victims of the plane crash $150,000 each.
According to the adviser, the final amount of compensation could only be agreed at special talks between Canada, Iran and four other nations whose citizens had died.
Meanwhile, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova wrote on her Facebook page that Ukrainian specialists had started examining a flight crew tablet found at the crash site. In December 2020, Iran handed over this device to Ukraine.
She noted that during the year more than 200 procedural and investigative actions were carried out, 18 inquiries for international legal assistance were sent to other countries, and Ukrainian specialists are constantly cooperating with the competent authorities of Iran and Canada.
Bohdan Marusyak
