Moscow: MH17 shot down from area controlled by Kiev
Ukrainian air defence forces shot down a Russian civilian plane by mistake in 2001 but refused to blame its military.
KUALA LUMPUR: Ukraine has not responded to allegations that forces under its command, in the east of the country, shot Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 out of the skies on 17 July 2014.
Major General Andrei Koban, the head of Russian air and space forces, denied on Monday at a press conference that the ill-fated plane was shot down by Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, CNN reported.
“The missile that brought down the Malaysian Boeing 777 must have been launched from a location with Ukrainian forces,” Koban said.
The tragedy, he added, unfolded in eight minutes.
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is due to release its first criminal report on the shooting down of MH17 on Wednesday 7pm Malaysian time.
It’s expected to disclose the weapon that was used to down the plane and from where it was fired. The report is expected to hold back information on who fired the missile for a possible criminal trial at The Hague.
Koban charged that Ukraine was hiding the true picture from the families of the victims and the world.
He pointed out that Ukraine has still not published information that it has gathered on the shooting incident.
Koban recalled that Ukrainian air defence forces shot down a Russian civilian plane by mistake in 2001. “Kiev refused to blame its military for the crash,” he stressed. “It’s the same with MH17.”
Russian Defence Ministry Spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, showed radar data from 17 July 2014 at the press conference. The data shows aircraft movement and the presence of Ukrainian air defence systems.
Konashenkov said that Russia would share the radar data with the Dutch Government and investigators. One hundred and ninety six of the 298 people on board MH17 were Dutch.
Another 38 were Australian nationals and residents.
The Dutch Safety Board concluded last year that the plane, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was brought down by a Russian-made BUK missile over eastern Ukraine.
Eliot Higgins, founder of citizen journalism website Bellingcat, told ABC News that Moscow timed the Monday press conference to undermine the JIT Report. “Their own press conference proves that they will simply lie and fake,” he said.
Higgins cautioned that it’s difficult to accept Russia’s position unless it can be independently verified. “Until then, whatever they say is unreliable.”
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An attorney, representing some of the families of victims on board MH17, confirmed that Malaysia Airlines has settled with most of the families of victims of the shooting down incident.