The Netherlands and Australia held talks with Russia about responsibility for the MH17 air disaster earlier this month, foreign minister Stef Blok has told a news conference in Australia.

Blok and his Australian counterpart Marise Payne told reporters that they are doing all they can to get justice for the victims who died when the Malaysian Airways plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine five years ago this July.

Last May, the Netherlands and Australia said they were holding Russia officially responsible for the disaster, in which 298 people died.

Flight MH17 was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down. The official investigators say 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.

Talks have now started, Blok said, adding that the first trilateral talks took place earlier in March.

‘I cannot go into the content of this process because confidentiality is vital here,’ he said. ‘But I can say this. We remain committed to achieving truth, justice and accountability.’