Dutch-led team adds to case against Russia over downing of MH17

The Dutch-led joint investigation team probing the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 have produced further evidence that a Russian missile was responsible.

The new findings address issues not covered in a last year’s air-safety probe, also led by the Netherlands.

Both reports confirm that a sophisticated ground-to-air Buk missile was fired by pro-Russian separatists from eastern Ukraine. The missile vehicle returned to Russia immediately after the incident when those responsible realised they had shot down a civil airliner.

The Boeing 777 aircraft was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board. Most of them were Dutch citizens.

Dutch prosecutor Fred Westerbeke, who is in charge of the international team, says the inquiry has identified about 100 people potentially responsible and he is “fully confident” they could eventually be brought to trial.

“The Buk came from Russia and returned to Russia,” Mr Westerbeke says.

Intercepted communications
The criminal probe based its conclusions on intercepted communications and other evidence, including photos of the missile launcher.

It says no other planes were in the vicinity, ruling out the possibility that a military plane had shot down the airliner.

Farmland close to the village of Pervomaiskyi was identified as the launch site of the Buk missile. After it was fired, the system was reloaded onto a truck and crossed back over the Russian border during the night.

Mr Westerbeke says the suspects first need to be identified before it is decided where they will face trial.

Russia last year vetoed an Australia-sponsored UN Security Council resolution that would have established an international criminal tribunal to investigate the downing of MH17.

The mandate for the investigation team has been extended to at least early 2018 as it seeks more information to help to pinpoint who made the decision to fire the missile.

Russia’s ‘post-truth’ version
Russia has responded, as it has previously, with an alternative explanation for which there is no evidence. In an example of "post-truth" politics, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova describes the latest report as “biased and politically motivated.”

She says the Dutch inquiry “prevented Moscow from fully participating in the investigative process,” adding: “It sounds like a cruel joke, but they made Ukraine a full member of the Joint Investigation Team, giving it an opportunity to fake the evidence and benefit from the situation.”

The missile manufacturer Almaz-Antey also has an alternative a version to absolve Russian responsibility.

Chief designer Mikhail Malyshevsky presented a lengthy technical briefing in Moscow as the new Dutch findings were released.

He says an 9M38-series missile shot down the aircraft but that it was launched from a different direction from the one pinpointed by Dutch investigators.

The Russian military had upgraded to a more modern missile in 2005, while the 9M38 was in the Ukrainian military inventory, he added.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry welcomed the release of the report, saying the information “points to the direct involvement of the state-aggressor in downing the aircraft.”