DISINFO: MH17: Malaysian Boeing's disaster supports the myth that Russia is the aggressor
SUMMARY
The Malaysian Boeing’s disaster is one of the pillars of the myth that Russia is the aggressor and must be subjected to sanctions. Ukrainian authorities deny their involvement and blame Russia for everything. If the guilt of the Ukrainian side were proven in case of MH17, it would be much more difficult for Kyiv to convince irritated European partners to maintain anti-Russian sanctions.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the downing of the MH17 and sanctions against Russia. The EU imposed restrictive measures against Russia before MH17 downing, from March 2014, in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and the deliberate destabilisation of Ukraine. At special meeting on 16 July, 2014, a day before MH17 downing, EU leaders agreed on targeting Russia with a new set of 6 restrictive measures.The EU sanctions continue to be in effect. The criminal investigation in the MH17 case was lead by the Joint Investigation Team - JIT - since in 2014. On 28 September 2016, the JIT announced that flight MH17 was shot down by a missile from the 9M38 series, which was launched by a BUK TELAR missile system. The system was transported from the Russian Federation to an agricultural field near the town of Pervomaiskyi in Eastern Ukraine, from where the missile was launched. After firing, the system - with 1 missing missile - went back to the Russian Federation. On the 24th of May 2018, the JIT announced its conclusion the BUK TELAR used to shoot down MH17 came from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces from Kursk in the Russian Federation. On the basis of the investigation conducted by the JIT, consisting of law enforcement agencies from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Ukraine and the Netherlands, the Dutch Public Persecution service will persecute Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin, Sergey Nikolayevich Dubinskiy, Oleg Yuldashevich Pulatov, and Leonid Volodymyrovych Kharchenko for causing the crash of MH17 and murdering all 298 people on board.