Nearly four years after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine, family members of the victims onboard the passenger jet continue to seek justice.

On Friday, the Netherlands and Australia announced they were holding Moscow legally responsible for its role in the missile attack.

The announcement came a day after international prosecutors said they had unequivocal evidence of Russian involvement in the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet.

Don Shahidan Kassim, a relative of Dora Shahila Kassim, the chief stewardess onboard MH17, said he hopes the Malaysian and Australian governments will take action against Russia.

On Thursday, a Dutch-led international team of investigators said they had strong evidence that the Buk missile system that brought down the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight came from a Russia-based military unit, the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk.

It was the most explicit link yet published by the investigators between Moscow and the downing of the flight known as MH17.

Kuala Lumpur - 26 May 2018

1. Don Shahidan Kassim, relative of Dora Shahila Kassim, Chief stewardess on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, looking at photo book

2. Close of Don Shahidan Kassim's hands flicking through photo book

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Don Shahidan Kassim, relative of Dora Shahila Kassim, Chief stewardess on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17:

"All of the next of kin expect justice because being that a passenger plane, how come an army such as the Russians would shoot it down? Whatever reason they have, they should not shoot the plane down. So we want justice, so we want our government and others, I think the Australian government, people want justice, so we are still pursuing it and hope the Malaysian government will still pursue it as a next of kin we are really hoping for justice."

4. Photo of Dora (screen bottom left), tilt up to photos of other crew members of MH17

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Don Shahidan Kassim, relative of Dora Shahila Kassim, Chief stewardess on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17:

"It has been four years already, this coming 17 July, four years already. And we are not informed, any (no) government has been able to take action against the Russian government, so we are still hoping but if the Australian government is able to take action against the Russian, we are happy with it because we want justice. I think also that the Australian people want justice but it's been four years and we do not know whether this year or next year or the next coming five years our government or the other governments will be able to prosecute Russia about this issue."

6. Don Shahidan Kassim looking at photo book

7. Close of photo of Dora

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Bunnik - 24 May 2018

1. Wide of presentation by the Joint Investigative Team

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jennifer Hurst, Australian Federal Police Commander:

"As we know it was a Buk missile from the 9M38-series. In parts of the plane wreckage as well as in bodies of victims and also on the crash site, different parts of the type of missile were found. These parts were secured by the jet and carefully examined by forensic experts. For example, examinations were conducted into the presence of explosive substances, the elemental composition of certain metal parts and analysis of paints. Also, pieces of debris and parts found on the crash site were visually compared with reference material consisting of various Buk missiles available to the jet. In addition a missile was detonated in a controlled environment so that comparisons could also be made with parts of a detonated missile."

3. Wide of presentation

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jennifer Hurst, Australian Federal Police Commander:

"All findings from this forensic investigation confirm the earlier conclusion of the jet that Flight MH17 was shot down by a 9M38-series Buk missile."

5. Wide of presentation

STORYLINE:

An international team of investigators on Thursday gave further details about the downing of flight MH17 at a presentation of interim results of the long-running investigation.

Australian Federal Police Commander Jennifer Hurst detailed the analysis that confirmed flight MH17 was shot down by "a Buk missile from the 9M38-series".

At the same event, Wilbert Paulissen of the Dutch National Police said investigators had also confirmed the missile was from the Russian military's 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk.

The passenger jet was headed from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, when it was was blown out of the sky over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 passengers and crew were killed.

Russia has always denied involvement in the downing of the jet.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected charges against Russian citizens for their alleged roles in the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over Ukraine five years ago, saying they lack proof.

The international team investigating the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 announced murder charges Wednesday against three Russians and one Ukrainian for their alleged roles in the attack that killed all 298 people on board.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Putin claimed "there is no proof whatsoever" behind the charges and criticised the investigators, saying they ignored evidence provided by Russia.

He blamed Ukraine for setting the stage for the tragedy, saying they failed to close their airspace to commercial flights despite the separatist fighting in the east.

Putin says Russia remains open for dialogue on the case.

Putin said that Russian private military contractors have been active in Syria, adding that they don't represent the Russian state.

Asked why the government doesn't offer veterans' benefits to private contractors who fought in Syria, Putin said Thursday that they have been there in their private capacity and engaged in "oil exploration."

He added that it was "not the Russian government and not the Russian State" so he wouldn't comment on it.

The statement marked Putin's first acknowledgement that Russian private military contractors were active in Syria.

Russian media have reported that the so-called Wagner Company has sent thousands of mercenaries to Syria, augmenting the Russian military.

The company has been linked to businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, indicted by the U.S. for meddling in the 2016 elections.

Putin said that Russia doesn't want to regain its Soviet-era superpower clout.

Asked if Russia has regained the Soviet Union's superpower status, Putin said it's not needed.

Speaking after Thursday's call-in show, the Russian leader told reporters that "we don't want to be like the Soviet Union that enforced its way of life and political system on its neighbours, including countries of Eastern Europe."

He noted that the Soviet policy was "counterproductive, too costly and lacking historic perspective" and "it's impossible to force other people to live according to your rules."

Putin charged that the U.S. has failed to learn from Soviet mistakes in a bid for global domination.

Moscow - 20 June 2019

1. Wide of Russian President Vladimir Putin walking up to microphones

2. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:

"Russia has never tried to escape any responsibility, if she had that responsibility on its shoulders. Those facts that we saw presented as evidences of our guilt do not satisfy us. There is not any proof there. All the facts presented there mean nothing."

3. Putin listening as journalist asks questions

4. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:

"We have our own version, we have presented it, but unfortunately nobody is eager to listen to us. Until there is a true dialogue, we will not find a right answer and the questions about the tragedy of the airplane and the death of people will be still open."

5. Camera operators filming

6. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:

"We're not looking for this status, it is not our aim. This notion comprises some elements which are interpreted as imposing its influence on other states and the whole regions".

7. Journalist asking question

8. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:

"We don't want to be like the Soviet Union that enforced its way of life and political system on its neighbours, including countries of Eastern Europe. It is counterproductive, too expensive and lacking historic perspective. It's impossible to force other people to live according to your rules. But it seems that this sad experience of the Soviet Union is not being taken into account by our Western partners. They are repeating the same mistakes, they are stepping on the same rake."

9. Journalist asking question

10. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:

"They are not employed by the Russian government. And they don't participate in military operations. They are solving the issues of economic character, to the oil extraction. That is all what it is about."

11. Wide of Putin listening to question

12. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:

"Of course we recognise that even working on these economic activities, people risk their lives. And, by the way, this is also an investment into the fight with the terrorism, because they fight out these fields from the Islamic State. But that is not Russian government and not the Russian State. So we don't comment on that."

13. Wide of Putin listening

14. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Russian President:

"What am I expecting from this meeting? I expect the continuation of the dialogue. I'm sure that Shinzo (Abe), as well as all of us, want the complete normalisation of relations and the signing of the peace treaty. It seemed to be very close, but now there are some issues appear that postpone the final solution of this issue. But what is completely obvious, and I have spoken about that before, is that the Japanese side and Russia want the complete normalisation of our relations."

15. Wide of Putin leaving

Ukraine's deputy foreign minister on Monday accused Russia of financing terrorism by shipping arms, ammunition and funds to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine and of discriminating against non-Russians in the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

The charges came as a case between Kiev and Moscow opened at the U.N.'s highest judicial organ.

The International Court of Justice case, which also seeks reparations for the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, opens a new legal front in the bitter, drawn-out conflict between Russia and its neighbour Ukraine.

The Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur Flight MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, by a Buk surface-to-air missile over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

International investigators have concluded that the Buk missile that shot down MH17 was fired from Russia-backed rebel-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine by a mobile launcher trucked in from Russia and hastily returned there, a finding that Moscow rejects.

The main case, in which Ukraine is asking the court to rule that Russia is breaching treaties on terrorist financing and racial discrimination, is likely to take months or years to resolve.

But judges will likely take just weeks to rule on whether to grant the provisional measures sought by Kiev at the hearing Monday.

They include an order to halt financing to rebels in eastern Ukraine and to stop discriminating against non-Russians in Crimea.

Russia will present its legal arguments on Tuesday.

Kiev - 6 March 2017

1. Exterior of Ukraine Foreign Ministry

2. Flags outside ministry

3. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Mariana Betsa, Spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine:

"On 16 January (2017), we also demanded the court to hold these hearings to determine the so-called provisional measures for Russia in order to prevent a deterioration (of the situation in eastern Ukraine and in Crimea), because the trial (which opened at the U.N.'s highest judicial organ on Monday) will continue for a few years on merit. Meanwhile, we need to do something to stop the suffering. People's lives have the highest value. That's why our main goal was to ask the court to avoid taking any actions which could make the situation worse - violations of conventions, discrimination of residents, killings, tortures and acts of terrorism."

FILE: Hrabove, Donetsk region - 19 July 2014

4. Various of MH17 plane crash site

FILE: Hrabove, Donetsk region - 21 July 2014

5. Crane lifting pieces of plane wreckage at MH17 plane crash site

6. Emergency workers standing next to wreckage at MH17 plane crash site

7. Large piece of wreckage being overturned at MH17 plane crash site

FILE: Mariupol, Donetsk region - 24 January 2015

8. Various shots showing the aftermath of shelling in residential area of Mariupol

Kiev - 6 March 2017

9. Wide of leader of Crimean Tatars Mustafa Dzhemilev in his Kiev apartment

10. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Mustafa Dzhemilev, Crimean Tatars leader:

"Some of the most awful crimes occupiers do in occupied Crimea are kidnappings and killings of people. Such crimes hadn't been committed even during Stalin's times. The 'procedure' of killing people existed then (referring to legal procedures that justified killings back then) and now without any (legal) procedure, each person can be disappeared at any moment. Today we know that about 17 persons, mainly young people, were kidnapped. We found a few bodies and the rest are missing."

11. Cutaway of Crimean Tatars flag

12. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Mustafa Dzhemilev, Crimean Tatars leader:

"I think the tendency to repress people will continue. Because the occupation regime will not be able to exist without repressions. Of course, if there was a democracy and people could express an opinion, they (occupiers) would not remain (in power) there (in Crimea). So they rely on repression only. They (Russia) started to have the opportunity to repress people after the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars was officially banned as an extremist organisation."

13. Various of Mustafa Dzhemilev watching the hearing of UN International Court of Justice

FILE: Crimea - March 2014

14. Various of military vehicles and armed men on the roads and streets of Crimea

Kiev - 6 March 2017

15. Ruslan Bortnik, Director of Ukrainian Institute for Analysis and Management of Policy

16. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Ruslan Bortnik, Director of Ukrainian Institute for Analysis and Management of Policy:

"I think that Ukraine doesn't expect the decision to be made or implemented very soon. The aims of this lawsuit at the international court is a bit different. The aim is to attract once again the international community's attention to the Ukrainian problem, to the problem of Crimea and Donbass, to the absence of any legal status of these territories, to this unsettled crisis."

Donetsk - 20 February 2017

17. Various of Donetsk streets

18. Various of passports issued by self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic