Now the Dutch safety board’s report into the cause of the crash of MH17 has been published, the Dutch government’s priority is to see the perpetrators brought to justice, prime minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday evening.

‘We have to do our utmost to make sure those who are guilty do not avoid punishment,’ Rutte said in a reaction to the OVV report.

The report concluded the plane was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile which was fired from rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board died in the disaster.

The prime minister called on Russia to cooperate fully with the ongoing criminal investigation into the disaster, which is being led by the Dutch public prosecution department.

However, he refused to speculate on Russian involvement in the incident or to use the word ‘attack’.

‘This international investigation requires the Netherlands exercise the utmost self-restraint,’ Rutte said. ‘The legal process is complicated enough… The public prosecution department must now be allowed to go about its business in a completely independent way.’