“New evidence proves the Kremlin’s innocence in the downing of MH17!” This sensational message has been communicated in different forms by pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities ever since the day of the killing of 298 civilians, including 80 children, on board Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over rebel-controlled Eastern Ukraine on 17 July, 2014. In the course of the past month, two additional incorrect claims were added to the already long list of pro-Kremlin attempts to distort the truth about the tragedy. Untrustworthy witnesses and doctored images The two new falsehoods were broadcast by the official outlet of Russia’s Armed Forces, TV Zvezda, on 7 December, and by Russian State TV Rossiya-1 on 29 December. Both claims were quickly debunked by the journalists at The Insider, an independent Russian outlet, and by the open source investigative search network Bellingcat. In the case of TV Zvezda, The Insider makes it clear that no evidence is produced to prove that an interviewee, who claims to be a defected Ukrainian officer, is in fact who he says he is. In addition, the claims made by the interviewee about the actions of Ukranian government forces were proven wrong by material evidence in open source investigations carried by Bellingcat already in July 2015. Zvezda’s unsubstantiated claims were also relayed by state-controlled TV Pervy Kanal. Investigating the story that appeared later in the month on Russian state TV Rossiya-1, The Insider demonstrates how satellite imagery used as proof in Rossiya-1’s broadcast (see above screenshot from Rossiya-1’s report) in fact contradicts the testimony of an interviewee in the very same broadcast; the person in question claims to be a hitherto unknown eyewitness of Ukrainian troop movements in Donbas during the days around the tragedy. On top of that, the claims made by the alleged eyewitness entirely contradict the results in Bellingcat’s open source investigation referred to above. Similar conclusions about inconsistencies, including the use of doctored images, are found in Bellingcat’s recent update of its ongoing open source investigation, The Kremlin’s Shifting, Self-Contradicting Narratives on MH17, which it published on 5 January, 2018. It is worth noting that in both cases, arguments communicated by the news stories depend on the trustworthiness of a single individual whose identity cannot even be confirmed. Russian state TV has previously used actors to make claims incriminating the Ukrainian side in Donbas of war crimes. Why now? And why not tell the truth? Which high-ranking Russian officer was in fact the responsible commander behind the BUK that caused the MH17 tragedy became increasingly evident thanks to another part of Bellingcat’s and The Insider’s investigations, the results of which were published last month. The timing of Zvezda’s and Rossiya-1’s broadcasts suggest concerns on the pro-Kremlin side with Bellingcat’s and The Insider’s publication.

Bellingcat’s open source investigation alleges that this Russian Colonel General is the key figure in the downing of Malaysian Airways Flight MH17.