Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was taken down in 2014 by a Russian Buk missile traveling from Ukraine to Russia.
MH17’s Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The incident killed all 298 flight occupants. The missile was launched by pro-Russian separatists, according to the Dutch Central Crime Investigation Department. Russia has denied responsibility for the missile launch.
Russia will never admit responsibility
Russian officials suggested that Ukrainian fighter jets were to blame as they could have shot down the plane by mistake. Authorities stated that Russian land-to-air armament has not been provided to separatist rebels, and labeled the Dutch investigation as biased and untrustworthy.
Reportedly, the investigation team possesses “phone taps, photo, film material, and video” that reveal how the Buk missile was transported. Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk denied any involvement and said they did not possess air defense systems and lacked personnel that could operate it efficiently.
“The data are unambiguous and there is no missile there. If there had been a missile, then it could have been launched from other territory. In this case, I do not say which territory — this is a matter of experts,” stated Russian presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The Russian presidency went on to deny that any investigation can be deemed as trustworthy without taking into account the radar data collected by the Russian armed forces, which apparently recorded any military airborne object that could have been employed at the time of the incident.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asserted that the investigation would help find the perpetrators. He added that the efforts employed by the Dutch are critical for finding those responsible for the killing of almost 300 innocents.
Dutch investigators assure that the missile was launched from Pervomaiskiy, a settlement three miles away from Snizhne, a Ukrainian rebel town in control of separatists at the time. The missile reached MH17 at 33,000 feet and effectively took it down along with all of its people on board.
The Central Crime Investigation Department revealed that pro-Russian rebels did ask for the deployment of such weaponry, and reported having the equipment at their disposal on July 17 of 2014.
The fact that the Buk had to be launched from Ukraine was disclosed by Almaz-Antey, the company in charge of manufacturing the missile. Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that Russia was directly involved and that an investigation of the culprit’s “place in the chain of command” was taking place.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that all data obtained by investigators comes from the Internet or from Ukraine itself, which is why they are calling the report biased.
Source: USA Today