RUSSIA vowed yesterday to veto a UN Security Council resolution on setting up an international tribunal into the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine a year ago.

Moscow’s UN ambassador Vitlay Churkin warned that a Malaysian draft resolution that includes proposals for a tribunal to prosecute individuals over the shooting down of flight MH17 would lead to a dangerous “confrontation” between east and west.

The airliner was brought down in war-torn Ukrainian on July 17 2014, killing all 298 people on board. Western powers accused anti-fascist forces in the east of the country and Russia itself, while Russia blamed the Kiev coup regime.

A Dutch investigation into the disaster has still not released its findings.

“There is a clear attempt to create another hotbed of confrontation here that could have very far-reaching consequences for international relations, in an environment where there a lot of global problems that require comprehensive cooperation,” he told journalists at the UN.

Mr Churkin said a tribunal would be “a very dangerous step” and said Russia would veto the resolution if it looked like being passed.

“We will vote against it I have no doubt about that,” he said.

“If the resolution gets nine or more votes than it’s going to be a veto. Unfortunately, I think that it will most likely get nine votes.”

Russia has submitted its own draft resolution proposing more international cooperation in investigating the tragedy, including the involvement of the UN Secretary General.