The downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over the Ukraine has lead to a class action lawsuit brought by London lawyers McCue & Partners against Vladimir Putin and others for his alleged involvement in the tragedy.
The lawyers are preparing a class action against the Russian president through the American courts. Senior Russian military commanders and politicians close to Mr. Putin are also likely to become embroiled in the legal claim.
The case would further damage relations between Mr. Putin and the West, but politicians would be powerless to prevent it.
Last week, lawyers from McCue & Partners flew to Ukraine for discussions about how to bring the case and where it should be filed. Victims’ families will be invited to join the action. The case will inevitably highlight the role allegedly played by Russia in stoking conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The announcement of a potential law suit against the Russian government came as:
Australian and Dutch officials held talks on the deployment of an international force of police and soldiers to secure the crash site. Four Australians and four Dutch investigators are already in the rebel-held city of Donetsk, but there are growing calls for a larger multinational force from a “coalition of the grieving” to take control of the area where Flight MH17 came down;
An exclusive ICM/Sunday Telegraph poll found wide support for stepping up the West’s trade war with Russia, with 45% backing tougher European Union sanctions, including a full arms embargo;
EU politicians prepared to draw up a further list of Mr. Putin’s “cronies” who will face sanctions. Negotiations over the individuals to be included in the latest ban will start tomorrow, ahead of wider economic sanctions due to be discussed in the weeks ahead;
It emerged that Malaysia Airlines, which also suffered the disappearance of Flight MH370 in March, is drawing up plans to change its name and carry out a radical restructuring of its business. Writing in The Sunday Telegraph today, the airline’s commercial director, Hugh Dunleavy, says the business will eventually “emerge stronger”, despite the “tragic” deaths.
Britain’s Labour party called on football’s world governing body, Fifa, to draw up contingency plans to allow Russia to be stripped of the 2018 World Cup.
There is overwhelming, but largely circumstantial evidence that Russian-backed rebels mistakenly brought down the Boeing 777, killing all 298 people on board, having mistaken it for a Ukrainian military aircraft.
