Putin says calls for UN tribunal on downing of airliner premature

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, July 15, 2015. REUTERS/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday calls for a U.N. tribunal to be set up to prosecute suspects in the downing of a Malaysian airliner in a rebel-held part of Ukraine were counterproductive and premature.

Putin made his comments in a phone call with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte before Friday's first anniversary of the incident in which all 298 aboard were killed, many of them Dutch.