Russia says it will withdraw from consultations with the Netherlands and Australia over the MH17 flight shot down over Ukraine in 2014, complaining of "vicious" attempts to pin blame on Moscow.
"Hostile acts by the Netherlands have made any continuation of the trilateral consultations and our participation senseless," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.
The three countries have held discussions since 2018 aimed at uncovering the cause of the disaster, in which a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was hit by a Soviet-designed BUK missile on July 17 2014, killing all 298 people aboard.
Onboard, as the plane was shot down over territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists, were 196 Dutch citizens and .
Judge Hendrik Steenhuis, rear, fourth from left, opens the court as the trial resumed for three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with shooting down of MH17. Source: AAP
Speaking to reporters at an EU summit in Brussels, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was "disappointed" and "surprised" by Russia's decision, adding that it was "especially painful" for the victims' families.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Stef Blok told Dutch politicians he had summoned the Russian ambassador to tell him of his "deep regrets" over the move.
But Mr Blok added that he was "committed to continuing negotiations".
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba said in a statement that Russia's withdrawal "speaks volumes about its fear of the truth about what happened on July 17, 2014 in the skies over Donbass," the separatist Ukrainian region where MH17 crashed.
Moscow complained that The Hague is bringing a case against it "for its role in the destruction of flight MH17" before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) "after just three rounds of talks".
The Netherlands "thereby demonstrate their firm intention to take the vicious path ... of unilaterally assigning responsibility to Russia for what happened," it added.
Dutch leaders have openly accused Russia of standing behind the deaths of its citizens. But Moscow has always and blamed Ukraine.
"Australia and the Netherlands have obviously not tried to understand what really happened in summer 2014, but rather just wanted to secure a confession from Russia and compensation for the victims' relatives," the foreign ministry said.
Russia will "continue its cooperation" with The Hague in the inquiry, but "in a different format", it added.
Dutch courts in March began hearing a case against four suspects, , accused of having caused the crash.
