Malaysian PM unhappy over MH17 charges, calls it a political plot against Russia

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has described the decision to charge three Russians and one Ukranian with murder over flight MH17 as a political plot against Russia.

The international investigative team set up to probe the crash said on Wednesday three Russians and one Ukrainian will face murder charges for the deaths of 298 people aboard the flight that was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

"We are very unhappy. From the very beginning, it became a political issue on how to accuse Russia of the wrongdoing.

"Even before they examined the case, they have already claimed it was done by Russia," Mahathir said to reporters.

Mahathir said Malaysia is not convinced with the findings and demands that the investigators provide proof that the Russians were behind the shooting.

"This is a ridiculous thing. Someone shoots a gun and you are not able to see who, but you know who shot," said Mahathir.

MH17 was shot out of the sky on July 17, 2014, over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Everyone on board was killed.

The four charged were Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.