Ukraine's further negotiations with Iran will depend on the information Tehran will provide about UIA's passenger jet downing in January.
That's according to Deputy Foreign Minister, head of the Ukrainian group of negotiators with Iran on the Ukrainian plane crash, Yevhen Yenin, RFE/RL's KrymRealii reports.
"To date, we have not yet agreed on the exact dates of the negotiations. To a large extent, this will depend both on the implementation by the parties of the agreements reached during the previous round of negotiations, and on the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic," Yenin said.
Read alsoSeveral relatives of PS752 victims file lawsuit against Iran in U.S.He added: "Of course, we are waiting for the Iranian side to fulfill its promises – send in the information." This, Yenine reports, will "directly affect the situation that we may have during the next round of negotiations."
"If we see that there is nothing to talk about yet, then perhaps it would be more expedient to wait until all the parties have fulfilled their obligations."
The MFA official also said that on November 6, a regular meeting of the ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organization] Council was held, attended by a representative of Ukraine.
The deputy foreign minister added that the Ukrainian side once again stressed that its goal is to establish justice.
"We are looking forward to the information that Iran has promised to provide us within the framework of the negotiation process, as well as the completion of the technical investigation in an objective and impartial way. Now the relevant information has not yet been received from the Iranian side either by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or by the Office of the Prosecutor General," Yenin stressed.
PS752 downing in Iran: Background
- On January 8, 2020, Kyiv-bound Boeing 737 passenger jet flight PS752, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, crashed in Iran shortly after takeoff from Tehran Airport.
- All 176 people on board, including 11 Ukrainian nationals – nine crew and two passengers – were killed. Among victims are also citizens of Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK.
- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani admitted that the Ukrainian liner had been shot down as a result of an unintentional "human error," and promised to bring those responsible to justice.
- On June 9, media reports said Iran had accused six persons in the PS752 downing case.
- On July 20, flight recorders were delivered to Paris and decrypted on July 21.
- On July 24, it was reported that data from the black boxes had confirmed external interference with the aircraft's operation.
- On July 29-30, Kyiv hosted the first round of negotiations with Iran regarding compensation to relatives of the PS752 victims.
- On July 31, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba briefed on three major achievements of the negotiations with the Iranian delegation on compensations. In particular, Iran joined in the negotiation process to establish all the circumstances of the disaster, to bring all those responsible to justice and handle all necessary payments. Iran also agreed to fulfill all its obligations under international conventions in the field of aviation. At the same time, there is no answer yet to the question of the size of the compensation.
- The second round of negotiation with Iran took place in Tehran on October 19-20.
