The Hague: The Netherlands will sue Russia at the European Court of Human Rights over the downing of passenger flight MH17, nearly six years after one of the deadliest crashes in modern history.

The Dutch government has held Russia liable for the accident since an international investigation found that Russia was responsible for the deployment of the missile installation that was used to down the Malaysia Airlines flight in 2014. Roughly two-thirds of the 298 victims were from The Netherlands.

"The submission is a new step in our efforts to establish truth, justice and accountability", Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to Parliament.

Blok said his government would give the court all its information on MH17, thereby supporting the individual applications already submitted by the victims' next of kin.