Julie Bishop reflects on MH17 judgment and Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s ‘big lie’

She famously shirt fronted Vladimir Putin after the shooting down of MH17. Now Julie Bishop takes it again to the Russian President.

She famously shirt fronted Vladimir Putin in 2014 after the shooting down of MH17 now former foreign minister Julie Bishop takes it again to the Russian president.

THE VERDICT

With the verdict handed down overnight I felt some relief because at last it provided some answers for the families of those killed aboard MH17.

It’s been a long search for some sort of justice and at least we have these guilty verdicts.

But I was also very sad about the entire tragedy and it brought back some rather painful memories and I can only imagine what it must be like for the families.

I made many phone calls the day after the incident. I was on my way to Washington and then New York to present a resolution to the UN Security Council calling for access to the site, to be able to retrieve the bodies and then commence an investigation.

I stopped over in Tokyo in between flights and I rang as many of the family representatives as I was able and at that time their emotions were still so raw, they were inconsolable and I will never forget those phone calls including with the Maslin family (who lost three children). There was just such deep and profound grief and a lack of understanding about how could this have happened.

In one sense these guilty verdicts are a significant step in that journey to find answers. The Maslin family have been in touch this morning, it’s obviously a very difficult time for so many people but I hope it has given them some sense of justice or at least an explanation of what we always assumed quite rightly, what has been proven in evidence in court.

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop in 2014 famously challenges Vladimir Putin on MH17. Picture: Supplied

THE ‘BIG LIE’

I recall the day after on the 18th July 2014 calling in the Russian ambassador Vladimir Morozov and I put it to him at that time that Russia had been involved and that it was Russian military and Russian military equipment in eastern Ukraine.

He denied it of course because Russia was denying it was involved with the separatists in eastern Ukraine at any level. This tragic incident of course exposed the lie that Russia has continued to deny involvement.

Russia did support the initial resolution before the UN Security Council on 21 July 2014 and that called for a full, thorough, independent investigation into the incident.

But thereafter Russia has played the role of spoiler and disrupter. It has actively sought to disrupt the proceedings, it has actively tried to disrupt the investigation, it seeks to discredit the investigation and even today is still blaming others for what was clearly an act of the Russian military under the direction of the President Vladimir Putin.

I will continue to call for Russia to be held to account. In May 2018 Australia declared under international law that Russia had State responsibility for the actions of its military in bringing down this plane. Russia should acknowledge its role, should apologise and should pay compensation to the families of the victims.

The difficulty for Russia at the time was it was in the middle of a much bigger lie and that was Russia’s denial that it was involved in the invasion of eastern Ukraine.

Russia had claimed it was separatists, independent rebels in eastern Ukraine that had risen up against the Ukrainian military when in fact it was the Russian military. So when MH17 was brought down it exposed this massive lie and President Putin obviously felt he could not afford to do that.

Australian National University Chancellor and former foreign minister Julie Bishop hosts a Q&A with Ukraine President Zelenskyy at Llewellyn Hall in Canberra in August. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

WHAT’S NEXT

Of course the decent thing to do would be for President Putin to admit responsibility, apologise and pay compensation. But because MH17 was literally caught in the crossfires literally as well as figuratively between Russia and Ukraine, he has had to perpetuate this massive lie and continue to mislead with misinformation.

The verdicts provide a sense of justice but it will never bring back the victims. The families deserve answers and they have some of them, it will evoke very painful memories for many people.

It was always a concern but pursuing and prosecuting individuals if they were under the protection of Russia then President Putin would refuse to surrender them. They were tried in their absence and I’m assuming that extradition proceedings will be attempted but that will present many legal challenges.

I think we should continue to assert that Russia has State responsibility for the actions of its military, they were not acting alone, they were clearly acting under directions, under orders, and those further up the chain of command should be held to account.

* Former Foreign Minister 2013-2018 and current Australian National University Chancellor, in conversation with Charles Miranda