The Dutch security service regulator is trying to establish exactly what the AIVD and MIVD secret services knew about the situation in eastern Ukraine, prior to the MH17 crash, the NRC reports.

The watchdog, known as the CTIVD, was asked to investigate by home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk and defence minister Jeanine Hennis at the end of November. They, in turn, received the request from the safety research council OVV which is looking into the cause of the crash, the paper says.

The OVV wants to know what role the security services had in deciding which routes were safe for civilian air travel. In addition, it wants to know how widely that information was disseminated among air safety organisations.

There are claims that European air safety officials had called for airspace above eastern Ukraine to be closed in the weeks prior to the crash.

MPs have also asked for clarity on what was known about the safety of airspace above eastern Ukraine on July 17.

Flight MH17 was brought down by a missile, probably fired by Russian-backed rebels, killing all 298 people on board.