Albert Koenders said he had summoned the Russian ambassador for a meeting last week after an international group of investigators – the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) issued interim conclusions over the tragedy.

But the meeting was to address concerns that Russia was trying to undermine the legitimacy of the group's work, Mr Koenders said, not to lay blame for the attack.

In late September the team, comprising experts from most of the countries affected by the tragedy including Australia, revealed some of their findings and the evidence they gathered.

They are compiling a brief with which to prosecute those responsible for shooting down the plane.

They said they had "irrefutable" proof that the Buk missile that brought down the flight, killing all on board, had been brought into eastern Ukraine from Russia, escorted by local pro-Russian separatists. It had travelled to a field near Torez and was then fired at the plane, before the launcher returned across the Russian border.

The team had identified about 100 people involved in this process, though it was yet to identify the chain of command and those ultimately to blame.

But Russia quickly dismissed the findings. A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry said the investigation had been "arbitrary and "dreamed up the desired results", and had ignored "incontestable" evidence provided by Russia.

She also accused the Ukrainian government of influencing the inquiry through faked evidence.

Mr Koenders spoke to a small group of Australian journalists including Fairfax Media, in advance of his visit to Australia at the end of October as part of a delegation including the Dutch king and queen.

He said it was "unfortunately" too early to choose a jurisdiction to try those allegedly responsible for the attack on MH17.

"We want step by step, completely impartial and non-politicised [to] bring those people responsible for this horrific attack in front of a judge," he said.

"[But] the next stage of the prosecution depends on the nationality of the persons [JIT] finds, the relationship we have with those countries in terms of extradition and the legal instruments we have to prosecute them.

"We hope to come to a closure on that question, national or international, as soon as possible, literally. It's not that we don't want to make that choice. Most important is to have the most effective [legal] instrument once the JIT is coming to the next stage.

"It's very important to remain disciplined because there's so much at stake."

The nationality of those who would be prosecuted was not yet known, so there was "not reason whatsoever" to take action against Russia yet, he said.

It was important "not to jump to conclusions before we have the facts – and then we will see which countries are involved", he said.

"I did call the ambassador of the Russian Federation into my office here last week – that was not to blame the Russians or to say 'you are guilty', that's not my role …

"There was heavy criticism on the side of the Russian Federation as to the integrity of the investigation, basically saying that it was politically motivated and not objective and I think as a Dutch minister I had the obligation to protect the integrity of the investigation."

Mr Koenders also said the Netherlands would be an ally in Australia's push to negotiate a free trade deal with the European Union – replacing Britain, which was lending its support before being taken out by Brexit.

"Free trade is a different thing now than it was 10, 20 years ago," he said. "It's not only about tariffs and quotas but it deals also with things related to standards and values. But even there I think we have similar approaches.

"It's important that we move forward … we are your allies in this endeavour.

"You can count on the Netherlands because international trade is a lifeline for this country."

However he admitted the prospects for free trade deals were generally cloudy – for example he did not expect the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would go forward during the rest of the Obama administration.

"We have a risk in the world economy at the moment of rising protectionism," he said. "We need a good rethink of how we deal with globalisation. We have to be in defence of globalisation that is fair and in which people feel there is enough attention for the losers, the people who do not win out."