The Kremlin dismissed on Thursday the findings of international prosecutors investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) who said they had found "strong indications" of Russian President Vladimir Putin's involvement in the incident. The prosecutors said on Wednesday at The Hague they had found "strong indications" that Putin had approved the use of Russian BUK missile systems that were used to shoot down the plane over eastern Ukraine in 2014. In Moscow's first reaction to their claim, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia "could not accept" the results of the investigation since it took no part in the process. He also said the investigators had not publicly presented supported evidence. MH17 was shot down by a Russian BUK missile system as it flew over eastern Ukraine from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew, including 196 Dutch citizens. At the time, Russian-backed separatists were fighting Ukrainian forces for control of the eastern Donbas region. Prosecutors cited intercepted phone calls for their findings, but said evidence of the direct involvement of Putin - or other Russian officials - was not conclusive enough to pursue a criminal conviction, and halted their probe. Russia has repeatedly denied state involvement in the downing of MH17. Peskov on Thursday dismissed the evidence which had been presented by investigators. "We know that a recording of a supposed phone call was published ... in which not a single word is said about weapons. Even assuming that this conversation is real ... there is not one word about weapons. Nobody has published anything else, so it's impossible to say anything," Peskov told reporters. Asked specifically about the claim that Putin approved the delivery of BUK missile systems to pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine, Peskov said: "Russia did not take part in this investigation, so we cannot accept these results - especially since no basis for these statements has been made public."<br/>
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SriLankan Airlines has defaulted on its $175m bond, having failed to amend the terms of the debt amid the worst economic crisis to engulf the country in its independent history. The airline failed to make a coupon payment due on Dec. 25, the board said in a statement this week, adding this constituted a default event under the terms of the debt. Executives would be in touch with holders of the bonds, which are backed by the government. For the carrier, the drop in business due to the pandemic has been compounded by the country’s economic woes. Bankrupt Sri Lanka is looking to secure an International Monetary Fund loan after massive street protests last year toppled the ruling Rajapaksa family and a drop in foreign-exchange reserves made it impossible to import goods ranging from medicine to coal. The airline’s pile of debt totaled $826m, including the US-currency bond and $352m owed to state banks, according to a presentation dated Jan. 12. The amount of overdue and future payments owed to lessors and suppliers was $771m. The company had sought to amend the terms of the dollar bond, including deferring a total of $12.25m worth interest payments due in December 2022 and June 2023 to Dec. 25, 2023. As of the end of last year, liquidity equivalent to 3% of annual revenues was on hand, while interest charges were seen amounting to 9% of yearly revenue in 2023-2024, the presentation said. <br/>