Two Russia-linked cases that framed early September 2020

What did the final days of August 2020 reveal about the legal and security fallout of dealings with Russia? By 5 September 2020, two separate stories had been reported, one in a courtroom context and one in a counter-espionage case.

A civil route for MH17 families

On 31 August 2020, lawyers for the families of victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 said they intended to seek unspecified damages from four suspects charged by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service. No claims had yet been filed. A Dutch District Court was still to decide whether Dutch or Ukrainian law would apply.

The flight, from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down on 17 July 2014 over eastern Ukraine by Russian-backed forces with a Buk missile. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. Wreckage fell near Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast. The question of applicable law therefore tied a Dutch civil process directly to Ukraine.

A spy case in France

On 30 August 2020, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly disclosed that an army lieutenant-colonel stationed at a NATO base in Italy had been arrested and indicted on charges of espionage on behalf of another government. He was reported to have supplied sensitive documents to an officer of the GRU, Russian military intelligence.

Reading the two together

The stories were unrelated in their details. Both, however, showed institutions in Europe responding to Russia-linked conduct through formal processes: a prospective damages claim in the Netherlands and a criminal indictment in France. In each, the outcome was still open on 5 September 2020.