OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) receives award for service to Australia in facilitating access to MH17 crash site

KYIV, 25 September 2015 – The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) was today honoured for its work in facilitating access to the crash site of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine as it received an award for its service to Australia. The award was delivered to the head of the SMM, Chief Monitor Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan by Australia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Doug Trappett.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 came down over the Donetsk region on 17 July 2014 while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The tragedy took the lives of all 298 passengers and crew members on board, among them 38 Australian citizens.

“We were truly shocked by the news. We send our condolences and respect to the families who lost loved ones,” said Ambassador Apakan in his acceptance speech.

A multi-national SMM team was pulled together from several different monitoring teams in the east and west of Ukraine and arrived at the site within 24 hours of the plane having come down. The SMM facilitated access for experts and first responders to MH17 crash site, the repatriation of victim’s remains and personal belongings, and the recovery of the wreckage.  

“Indeed, the memory of the victims will always stay with SMM monitors. The MH17 disaster and SMM involvement in the immediate aftermath will always have a special place in the history of our mission,” said Chief Monitor Apakan.

The Chief Monitor thanked the government and the people of Australia for this distinguished award.

Ambassador Apakan acknowledged the strength and dedication of the team of experts from Australia – members of the Australian Federal Police and other Australian services at the crash site – who travelled to Ukraine and worked alongside Dutch and Malaysian experts under difficult and dangerous conditions. He saluted the commitment and bravery of Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug and other SMM members who spent days on end at the crash site. He expressed gratitude to the government of Ukraine, which also sent experts to the site, and thanked OSCE participating States and representatives of the then Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE, as well as the current Serbian OSCE Chairmanship and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier.