DISINFO: Unlike Iran, Ukraine has not had the courage to acknowledge it shot down a civilian airliner
SUMMARY
It takes a lot of political courage [from Iran] to come clean and acknowledge that it accidentally shot down a civilian airliner, something that Ukraine has failed to do for over five and half years since it took down MH-17
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the downing of the flight MH17 and a repeated attempt to discredit Joint International Investigation. The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) 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 MH17, was taken back to the Russian Federation. The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT), has concluded that the BUK-TELAR used to down MH17, originates from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile brigade, a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation. On the basis of the investigation conducted by the JIT the Dutch Public Persecution service will persecute 4 individuals for causing the crash of the MH17 and murdering of 289 persons on board. The disinformation message also includes recurring pro-Kremlin narrative portraying acts of aggression by Russian armed forces as civil war in Ukraine.