DISINFO: JIT didn't do a proper investigation of MH17's downing, accusations against Russia are unfounded
SUMMARY
The joint investigation team (JIT) investigating the Malaysian Boeing MH17’s downing did not conduct a real investigation into the role of Ukraine in this tragedy. The materials transmitted by us [Russia] were either ignored or called fabricated. At the same time, without any questions, data from dubious sources, including what was obviously provided by the interested party, Ukraine, were included in the case. However, no real investigation was conducted into the role of Ukraine in the crash of flight MH17 – in connection with the Ukrainian authorities not closing the airspace for civilian flights over the zone of armed conflict. Allegations of Russia’s involvement in the crash of the Malaysian Boeing are unfounded and regrettable, the investigation is biased and one-sided. All the missiles, the engine of which the Dutch investigators demonstrated, were disposed after 2011 in Russia.
RESPONSE
The report advances recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about the dowing of the flight MH17 and the subsequent Joint International Investigation. The public hearing on causing the crash of the MH17 and murdering the 289 persons on board started on 9 March 2020 in the Netherlands. The trial, and not any other institution or official, is able to assess the evidence provided. The Russian government is not an official party at the trial for formal legal reasons: the downing occurred over Ukrainian territory and there were no Russian citizens aboard. At that, the sole Russian defendant represented at the trial has the possibility to effectively carry out his defence and advance his own evidence. So far, Russian officials advanced their "irrefutable evidence", to which the disinformation report refers, publicly. The evidence claimed by Russia, namely radar data and the documentation on the missile Buk's engine identified origin are only a small sample of misleading claims advanced by Moscow since 2015, some of which have contradicted one another. The disinformation narrative refers both to a Russian radar which did not detect any Buk missile and at the same time, to the claim that the Buk was of "Ukrainian origin" (evidence advanced by Russia which Novaya Gazeta found to be fabricated). As such, the results of the investigation of the Joint Investigation Team remain unchanged: flight MH17 was shot down by a missile from the 9M38 series, which was launched by the BUK TELAR system. The system was transported from the Russian Federation to an agricultural field near the city of Pervomaiskiy in eastern Ukraine, from where the rocket was launched. After firing, the system with one missing missile returned to the Russian Federation. On May 24 2018, JIT announced in its conclusion that the Buk belongs to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces in Kursk, Russian Federation. See more disinformation cases on MH17.