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Disinfo: The Investigators Were Silent, Following New Russian Claims on MH17

Summary

“We are unfortunately living in a propaganda era, when media and the Western establishment are trying to discredit any information coming from Russia. The team that investigates the plane’s downing will be obliged to take into account this new information released by the Russian authorities but the international community will remain silent. They prefer not to speak on a topic where they were wrong. They are and will remain totally silent on a subject. Their silence proves that this information is true and credible.”

Disproof

On Monday 17 September, the JIT, tasked with probing the case, issued a statement saying it had “taken note of the information that has been publicly presented by the authorities of the Russian Federation for the first time today.” The JIT went on to say that it had asked for the Russian Federation to provide “all relevant information” as early as 2014, specifically requesting in May of this year “information concerning numbers found on several recovered missile parts.”​ The JIT said it would “meticulously study” the new material once the new documents are made available, adding that information previously provided by Russia “had proven to be “factually inaccurate,” citing the “alleged presence of a fighter plane in the vicinity of MH17 on radar imagery presented to the public on (at) a press conference in July 2014.”​ Read the full debunk by Polygraph.: https://www.polygraph.info/a/fact-check-mh17-russia-missile-claim/29501085.html?ltflags=mailer

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publication/media

Sputnik English (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 119
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 18/09/2018
  • Language/target audience: English
  • Country: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: MH17
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Missile that shot down flight MH17 belonged to Ukraine, not to Russia

Nikolai Parshin, chief of the Russian Defense Ministry Main Rocket and Artillery Directorate said that a surface-to-air missile launched from a Buk air defense system that downed the Malaysia Airline flight MH17 in 2014 was manufactured in Dolgoprudny outside Moscow in 1986 and sent to Ukraine, from where it has never returned to Russia. [Meaning the MH17 flight could not have been shot down by the BUK missile system that arrived from Russia just before the tragedy and returned to Russia right after the tragedy, as the JIT investigation shows.] “The missile with the side number 886847379 designed for the Buk air defense missile system was transported by rail to military unit 20152 on December 29, 1986. The actual name of this military unit is the 223rd Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Carpathian Military District, stationed in the Ternopil region. After the Soviet Union’s breakup, it was not transferred outside Ukraine”, said Parshin.

Sep 17, 2018
Disproof

Many competing and contradictory stories promulgated by Russian state-controlled media on MH17. https://euvsdisinfo.eu/disinformation-cases/?text=mh17&disinfo_issue=&date= The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team has concluded that flight MH17 was shot down on 17 July 2014 by a missile of the 9M38 series, launched by a BUK-TELAR, from farmland in the vicinity of Pervomaiskiy (or: Pervomaiskyi). At that time, the area was controlled by pro-Russian fighters. The BUK-TELAR was brought in from the territory of the Russian Federation and subsequently, after having shot down flight MH-17, was taken back to the Russian Federation. https://www.om.nl/onderwerpen/mh17-crash/@96068/jit-flight-mh17-shot/

24 May 2018, JIT stated that the BUK-TELAR that was used to down MH17 originates from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile brigade, a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation. The JIT reached this conclusion after extensive comparative research. Several images of the BUK-TELAR with which MH17 was downed are available. Analysis of those produces a number of characteristics. The combination of those is so special that that can be considered as a fingerprint. This fingerprint has been compared with numerous images of BUK-TELARS, both Ukrainian and Russian ones. The only BUK-TELAR on which this combination of characteristics also was found, is a BUK-TELAR that was recorded several times when it joined a convoy of the 53rd brigade on 23 – 25 June 2014. https://www.om.nl/onderwerpen/mh17-crash/@103196/update-criminal-0/ Furthermore, a joint international open source investigation led by Bellingcat has identified conclusively that the person of interest known as ‘Andrey Ivanovich’ or ‘Orion’ whose identity is sought by the Joint Investigating Team in connection with the criminal investigation into the downing of MH17, is in fact Russian citizen Oleg Vladimirovich Ivannikov. Ivannikov was an officer of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Ministry of Defence (GRU), and served in that function until at least as late as September 2017. During his undercover deployment to LNR, he coordinated and supervised the military activities of Russian militants, pro-Russian separatists and “private army” contingents from the Wagner group. Ivannikov also supervised the procurement and transport of weapons across the Russia Ukraine border. He held these functions at the time of the downing of MH17. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/05/25/mh17-russian-gru-commander-orion-identified-oleg-ivannikov/ The European Union an NATO have called on the Russian Federation to accept its responsibility and to fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/05/25/declaration-by-the-high-representative-on-behalf-of-the-eu-on-the-findings-of-the-joint-investigation-team-on-the-downing-of-flight-mh17/ https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_154585.htm On the basis of the JIT’s conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17. The two governments are formally holding Russia accountable. https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2018/05/25/mh17-the-netherlands-and-australia-hold-russia-responsible The US have supported the decisions by the Netherlands and Australia https://twitter.com/statedeptspox/status/1000039780384755712

It was a Ukrainian regiment that shot down MH17

The missile that shot down MH17 came from an the Ukrainian missile regiment, said Nikolai Parshin, chief of the Russian Defense Ministry Main Rocket and Artillery Directorate. According to Parshin, this Ukrainian military unit is now called the 223rd anti-aircraft defense regiment of the Ukrainian armed forces, was renamed by a decree from the Ukraine presidential office. “Currently, this unit is located in the city of Stryi in the Lviv region, [and] they still have the Buk systems. It is noteworthy that units of the 223 regiment have, since 2014, repeatedly been involved in the so-called anti-terror operation in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.”, he added.

Sep 17, 2018
Disproof

Bellingcat has identified that on the photos in VKontakte of an Ukrainian volunteer, it's evident that the 223rd Stryi Missile Regiment was in 2014 in the Poltava region. "The Poltava region is central Ukraine. Missile's range would be" too short, says Kirill Mihailov, researcher at Conflict Intelligence Team. "The only operational Buk missile launcher observed within firing range of MH17 on July 17, 2014, was the Russian Buk 332, from the Kursk-based 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade," a surface-to-air combat unit of the Russian ground forces that was stationed in eastern Ukraine at the time, Bellingcat reported. Further debunk by The Insider. Background: Many competing and contradictory stories promulgated by Russian state-controlled media on MH17. https://euvsdisinfo.eu/disinformation-cases/?text=mh17&disinfo_issue=&date= The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team has concluded that flight MH17 was shot down on 17 July 2014 by a missile of the 9M38 series, launched by a BUK-TELAR, from farmland in the vicinity of Pervomaiskiy (or: Pervomaiskyi). At that time, the area was controlled by pro-Russian fighters. The BUK-TELAR was brought in from the territory of the Russian Federation and subsequently, after having shot down flight MH-17, was taken back to the Russian Federation. https://www.om.nl/onderwerpen/mh17-crash/@96068/jit-flight-mh17-shot/

24 May 2018, JIT stated that the BUK-TELAR that was used to down MH17 originates from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile brigade, a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation. The JIT reached this conclusion after extensive comparative research. Several images of the BUK-TELAR with which MH17 was downed are available. Analysis of those produces a number of characteristics. The combination of those is so special that that can be considered as a fingerprint. This fingerprint has been compared with numerous images of BUK-TELARS, both Ukrainian and Russian ones. The only BUK-TELAR on which this combination of characteristics also was found, is a BUK-TELAR that was recorded several times when it joined a convoy of the 53rd brigade on 23 – 25 June 2014. https://www.om.nl/onderwerpen/mh17-crash/@103196/update-criminal-0/ Furthermore, a joint international open source investigation led by Bellingcat has identified conclusively that the person of interest known as ‘Andrey Ivanovich’ or ‘Orion’ whose identity is sought by the Joint Investigating Team in connection with the criminal investigation into the downing of MH17, is in fact Russian citizen Oleg Vladimirovich Ivannikov. Ivannikov was an officer of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Ministry of Defence (GRU), and served in that function until at least as late as September 2017. During his undercover deployment to LNR, he coordinated and supervised the military activities of Russian militants, pro-Russian separatists and “private army” contingents from the Wagner group. Ivannikov also supervised the procurement and transport of weapons across the Russia Ukraine border. He held these functions at the time of the downing of MH17. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/05/25/mh17-russian-gru-commander-orion-identified-oleg-ivannikov/ The European Union an NATO have called on the Russian Federation to accept its responsibility and to fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/05/25/declaration-by-the-high-representative-on-behalf-of-the-eu-on-the-findings-of-the-joint-investigation-team-on-the-downing-of-flight-mh17/ https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_154585.htm On the basis of the JIT’s conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17. The two governments are formally holding Russia accountable. https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2018/05/25/mh17-the-netherlands-and-australia-hold-russia-responsible The US have supported the decisions by the Netherlands and Australia https://twitter.com/statedeptspox/status/1000039780384755712

Ukraine didn't provide information for the investigation of MH17

Ukraine did not provide information for the investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which indirectly proves its guilt, said Nikolai Parshin, chief of the Russian Defense Ministry Main Rocket and Artillery Directorate.

Sep 17, 2018
Disproof

"In the JIT Australia, Belgium, Ukraine, Malaysia and the Netherlands are working together," said the JIT itself in its most recent statement: https://www.om.nl/onderwerpen/mh17-crash/@103196/update-criminal-0/

According to The Insider, Ukraine was fully cooperating with the Joint Investigation Team. Moscow claimed that the JIT ignored evidence provided by Russia and, for that reason, it has refused to cooperate with the investigation.