A foundation representing the families of people who died in the MH17 plane disaster has written to the Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad urging him to stop spreading doubts and confusion about the investigation.

The Malaysian Airlines plane was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board in July 2014.

‘With your comments you are trying to sow divisions and, more than that, you are not serving the interests of the relatives, the Malaysian relatives in particular,’ the letter said. ‘In addition, you are sowing confusion about the real position taken by the Malaysian government and its representatives on the JIT investigation.’

Read the letter, in English.

Mahathir said in June that he had doubts about whether the aircraft was shot down by a Russian Buk missile and that the investigation was trying to make Russia look bad.

The foundation points out that Malaysia backed a UN resolution on the disaster and cooperation with the team investigating what happened. By making his comments Mahathir is ‘continually casting doubt on the integrity and independence of the investigation,’ the letter stated.

In May 2018,  the Netherlands and Australia said they are holding Russia liable for its role in the shooting down of flight MH17 in July 2014.

The decision to hold Russia responsible follows on from a report by investigators looking into the crash, who said the Buk missile which brought down the plane was fired by a weapons system in the hands of a Russian brigade. Russia has consistently denied any involvement.