Ukraine could ratify AFP deal next week

A deal authorising Australian police and soldiers to help secure the MH17 crash site could be ratified next week when the Ukrainian parliament is recalled.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Federal Police assistant commissioner Michael Outrim briefs Prime Minister Tony Abbott about the MH17 crash site (AFP PHOTO / PRIME MINISTER OFFICE).

Ukraine's acting prime minister hopes parliament can next week ratify a deal that would allow Australian police and soldiers to take a lead role in securing the MH17 crash site.

The air-crash investigation has been officially handed over to the Netherlands but a separate deal authorising an international security force is yet to be passed.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop signed an in-principle deal on that with her Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin in the early hours of Friday morning.

"We are now preparing a special document that is to be ratified by the parliament," acting Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman told reporters via a translator in Kiev.

"I hope that this will take place next week."

Getting the arrangement finalised has been complicated by the collapse of the ruling coalition and the resignation of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

But Mr Groysman is confident that parliament will be recalled for an extraordinary session.

"We have to ratify the agreement that was signed for the police mission to enter Ukraine and to provide for security of experts that will be working on that territory," he said on Friday.

"We are concentrating on that. There's inter-operation between the parliament, the government and the president to find an opportunity to fast-track ratification of this agreement."

Local media reported late on Friday that leaders had agreed to sit again on Thursday.

Australia's special envoy to Ukraine said Canberra understood it was a politically challenging time in Kiev.

"(But) Acting Prime Minister Groysman has assured us the ratification of the arrangement is a priority as the international police mission is necessary to provide protection to experts working at the site of the wreckage," retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said in a statement.

The Netherlands is sending 40 unarmed military police to the site. The Dutch argue they don't need a special deal at this stage because their police won't have weapons.

But Australia wants to send in almost 200 federal police officers - some of who could be armed - as well as a small defence force contingent.

Officials from both countries on Friday accompanied a team of monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe to examine the wreckage and prepare the deployment by mapping the territory.

"They're doing GPS co-ordinates," OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said next to the scorched earth at the main scene of the crash near the village of Grabove.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday said Australia was close to finalising the deal allowing the deployment of Australian forces.

"My understanding is that it does need parliamentary approval but nothing that's happened overnight (the collapse of the government) is expected to hinder that," Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

Dutch authorities say 189 coffins have been flown to the Netherlands where the remains will be identified, with another flight set to carry 38 more from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv to Eindhoven on Saturday.


Share

3 min read

Published

Updated



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world