KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak offered no concessions to the leader of Ukraine’s separatist leader to secure the safe release of the black boxes and remains of passengers aboard Flight MH17, Parliament was told today.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Najib had relied purely on wisdom to convince self-styled rebel leader Alexander Borodei to return both, without any impetus for cooperation from the latter.

“There was no deal made, as far as I was informed by the prime minister,” he said in response to an interjection by PKR’s Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tsin when winding up points raised during the debate on MH17.

Najib announced late on Monday that the Ukrainian separatist force had agreed to release the remains of 282 victims recovered from the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, as well as the two black boxes recovered from the flight wreckage.

The prime minister added that the separatist rebels had also agreed to allow full and safe access to the crash site so that investigations may begin.

In an earlier reply to a question by DAP’s Bagan MP, Lim Guan Eng, Muhyiddin today explained that the Najib had reached out to Borodei to emphasise the significance to Malaysia that the black boxes and remains are securely returned.

“The initiative that he took was done using wisdom... probably through persuasion and explaining that this is an issue that is important to our country and the world, so the parties involved such as Alexander Borodei agreed without any conditions for compensation,” he said.

The deputy prime minister stressed that despite the complexity surrounding the incident, what is most important is the outcome of Najib’s successful negotiation with Borodei.

A total of 19 parliamentarians from both sides of the divide debated the motion on MH17 in today’s emergency parliamentary sitting.

The motion was unanimously passed.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 people on board.

US officials have said the jet was shot down by Russian-backed rebels.