Ukraine insists that Iran returns UIA plane black boxes, pays compensation

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba underscored in a phone conversation with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that black boxes of the UIA plane downed in Iran must be delivered to Ukraine and compensations must be paid to victims’ families.
"The Foreign Minister emphasized that he insists that the flight recorders must be delivered to Ukraine in accordance with the Chicago Convention with a further decision on the place of their decoding and research with the participation of countries whose citizens were killed as a result of the tragedy," the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine informs.

The Foreign Minister of Iran said that the statement of the Iranian lawmakers, which had previously stirred public opinion in Ukraine, did not correspond to the reality and official position of Iran and had already received the appropriate legal assessment. He also recalled that a number of persons had already been detained within the framework of investigation.

Zarif assured Kuleba that Iran aimed to investigate the tragedy as soon as possible, to find out all its circumstances, to establish those responsible for the incident and to hold them accountable.

Kuleba noted that Ukraine expected further dialogue to clarify all circumstances of the tragedy, to bring those responsible to justice and to pay proper compensation to the friends and family of the crash victims.

The interlocutors also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and the two countries' efforts to counter the spread of the virus.