Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary on Flight PS752 Downing: ‘Terrorist Act’ Against a Civilian Aircraft

Voice of America marked the second anniversary of the downing of Ukraine’s passenger flight ‘PS752’ with a special program titled ‘Flight 752: Toward Truth’ featuring expert analysis.

Below is the full transcript of an interview by Siamak Dehghanpour with Alexei Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

Siamak Dehghanpour: You previously described the shooting down of the Ukrainian aircraft as a deliberate attack with a chance to prevent a U.S. strike on Iran. Do you still hold this position? Do you think the missile firing was intentional?

Alexei Danilov: First and foremost, I must emphasize that the incident that occurred on January 8, 2020, was a terrorist act against a civilian aircraft – an act that is unacceptable in today’s world. This is my view and it has not changed to this day. Unfortunately, the Iranian side does not allow us to access other information.

Q: Eleven Ukrainian citizens were killed in the shooting down of Flight 752. Has the Islamic Republic formally apologized to Ukraine? Have the families of the victims received compensation from the Islamic Republic?

Alexei Danilov: An apology was made, yes. But lost lives cannot be returned. Unfortunately, the Iranian side does not pay compensation to Ukrainian families and this is a big question – why? Two years have passed since this tragedy. It is deeply regrettable that the Iranian side has not accepted our proposals.

Q: On January 3, 2022, Ontario’s Superior Court in Canada ordered the Islamic Republic to pay CAD 107 million for the intentional terrorist act of shooting down the Ukrainian aircraft. Is a similar case proceeding in Ukraine’s judicial system?

Alexei Danilov: Criminal investigations are ongoing under the supervision of Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office. But I must regrettably say again that the cooperation we expected from Iran has not materialized. Together with our international partners, we await the democratic legal process to be followed so we can obtain compensation. The case you mentioned is a separate matter concerning only a small number of the victims’ survivors.

Q: On the first anniversary of the Flight 752 shooting, Ukraine and several other countries issued a joint statement demanding that Iran prosecute everyone involved in this case. Is there joint effort with other countries for legal action underway?

Alexei Danilov: Our government cooperates with the governments of countries whose citizens lost their lives in the downing of the Ukrainian aircraft. However, the democratic legal process has become overly prolonged. I remind you that years have passed since the downing of the Malaysian aircraft over Ukraine, which had 298 victims, and the legal proceedings regarding this case continue, and for some suspected individuals they have not even begun. Unfortunately, the legal process in the democratic world is very time-consuming. I understand the frustration of the families of the victims of these disasters, who are forced to wait an extremely long time for justice to be served.

Q: On April 7, 2021, Iran announced it had prosecuted 10 officials over the Flight 752 shooting. Are you satisfied with this process?

Alexei Danilov: We do not know at all whether these suspects are actually responsible or not. All Iranian investigations were conducted behind closed doors and international observers and experts were not allowed to participate so that we could be confident of the transparency of these investigations. Whether the individuals introduced as suspects are actually responsible remains a major question.

Q: The Revolutionary Guards said on December 12 that they had mistaken a 737 passenger aircraft for a cruise missile. Is such a thing possible?

Alexei Danilov: Boeing 737 is a passenger aircraft and cannot be a military target. This aircraft posed no threat. One day after its downing we announced that this aircraft had been targeted by a Russian ‘Tor M-1’ missile. We were almost certain about this matter.

Q: The Revolutionary Guards’ air force announced that the missile operator acted independently. How do ‘Tor M-1’ missile defense systems work?

Alexei Danilov: The system operator cannot make such a decision alone. The highest authority must issue such an order. Without receiving such an order, the operator cannot independently carry out this action. We suspect that external control may have been used to guide this missile.

Q: It was reported that Flight 752 had a delay of more than an hour due to excess cargo and its unloading. Is your understanding the same?

Alexei Danilov: Yes, that is correct. The aircraft was overloaded and the pilot decided to unload some of this cargo to ensure passenger safety. It should be noted that both before and after the Ukrainian aircraft, other planes took off from Tehran airport. It appears they were waiting for our aircraft. We cannot rule out this possibility.

Q: Do you find Iran’s argument about not closing Iranian airspace to passenger flights convincing?

Alexei Danilov: I myself traveled to Tehran shortly after this tragedy and spoke with high-ranking Iranian officials and I cannot help but suspect that this was a terrorist act against this particular aircraft.

Q: Will Ukraine continue to ban its flights over Iranian airspace?

Alexei Danilov: After this period of time, we no longer have such a ban. The circumstances of January 2020 will become clear to everyone sooner or later. In today’s world we cannot hide anything. We must wait until we understand exactly what happened.

Q: A few years ago, Ukraine experienced the downing of Malaysia’s ‘MH17’ aircraft with another Russian missile over its territory. How do these two investigations differ from each other?

Alexei Danilov: Years have passed since the downing of ‘MH17’ and the deaths of its 298 passengers. Again, I must regrettably admit that unfortunately the democratic legal process does not provide quick answers to questions that are completely clear to many. We know who is responsible for the downing of ‘MH17’. The Russian ‘Buk’ system was transferred from Russian territory to the occupied part of the Donetsk region. We know this system was transferred from the Kursk region, we know all the people who were responsible for this operation. But all these details have not yet been made available to the international community because the democratic legal process is lengthy and time-consuming. But there is no doubt these details will definitely be made public. What is important is to know that those who fired the missile are low-level individuals of secondary importance. What matters are those who decided to send this system to Ukrainian territory. This is the most important question.

Q: Within three months, ICAO issued a stern resolution regarding alleged destruction and crime in the shooting down of the Malaysian flight. Have you seen a similar level of intensity of action regarding Flight PS752?

Alexei Danilov: Unfortunately, the international community has recently acted very passively in such matters. It is very frustrating that even our partners for a while did not think a terrorist act had occurred and said the Ukrainian aircraft had a technical malfunction. When we issued a statement about missile impact on January 9 – less than a day after this tragedy – for two or three days some countries said this was not true. It is very regrettable that in today’s world human life is not given appropriate value, and democracy in the modern world is also not the solution to this problem.

Source: Voice of America