Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday, June 20 that Russia is being made a scapegoat for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.

This was after the Dutch-led international investigative team set up to probe the crash said a day before on Wednesday that three Russians and one Ukrainian are responsible for the disaster.

The suspects named are Russians Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Igor Girkin, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.

It said international arrest warrants for the four had been issued.

The four individuals will face murder charges for the deaths of 298 people aboard the flight that was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

Mahathir sceptical

However, Mahathir has questioned the objectivity of the investigations.

"We are very unhappy, because from the very beginning it was a political issue on how to accuse Russia of the wrongdoing," Mahathir said at a government event to reporters.

"Even before they examine, they already said Russia. And now they said they have proof. It is very difficult for us to accept that."

Mahathir also said he personally did not think the Russians were involved.

"I expect everybody to go for the truth," he said.

His rhetoric included calling the investigations ridiculous" and "politically motivated" against Moscow.

He also said the investigative team's findings were based on "hearsay".

Mahathir said: "As far as we are concerned we want proof of guilt. So far there is no proof. Only hearsay."

Mahathir's latest comments on this issue is controversial, as it goes against what has been publicly made known and the consensus of expert findings into the tragedy over the past five years.

What happened to MH17

MH17 was shot out of the sky on July 17, 2014.

It was flying over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine making its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

All passengers on board were killed.

The suspects were believed to be responsible for bringing a Russian-made missile into eastern Ukraine "with the aim to shoot down an airplane".

The missile used to shoot down the airplane is highly sophisticated, and is believed to have been trafficked back to Russia.

The region the airplane flew over was embroiled in turmoil following the annexation of Crimea.

Russia has said it regretted the crash investigation findings and called the murder charges against the Russian suspects groundless.

Reactions from Dutch PM

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Thursday slammed his Malaysian counterpart for creating "confusion".

"I can imagine that relatives must be very disappointed about it and also that it sows confusion," Rutte told reporters ahead of an EU summit in Brussels when asked about Mahathir's remarks.

Rutte said the Dutch foreign ministry would contact the Malaysian government about Mahathir's comments, adding that he wanted "to await the results of this first before making further statements".