UN Vote Wednesday on MH17 Tribunal, Russia Likely to Block: Diplomats

United Nations: The United Nations Security Council is due to vote on Wednesday on a bid for an international tribunal to prosecute those suspected of downing a passenger airliner last year in Ukraine, but Russia is likely to block the move, diplomats said.

It is a joint proposal by Malaysia - a member of the council - Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ukraine and foreign ministers from those countries are expected to attend the planned vote on Wednesday, diplomats said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described as premature and counterproductive a draft resolution which Malaysia circulated this month. Russia proposed a rival text last week that demands justice but does not establish a tribunal.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has said Moscow is against setting up a tribunal, describing the move as an attempt to organise a "grandiose, political show." Russia is a Security Council veto power and can block the bid.

Several council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they expected Russia to veto the resolution.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in July 2014 with 298 passengers on board, two-thirds of them Dutch. It crashed in Ukrainian territory held by Russian-backed separatists.

Ukraine and Western countries accuse the rebels in eastern Ukraine of shooting down the plane with a Russian-made missile. But Moscow has rejected accusations it supplied the rebels with SA-11 Buk anti-aircraft missile systems.

On July 21, 2014, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that demanded that those responsible "be held to account and that all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability."