Russia on the new findings concerning the downing of flight MH17

Abstract:

On 28 September 2016, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which includes representatives from Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Ukraine, under the leadership of the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office, presented its interim findings from the investigation into the shooting down in July 2014 of a Malaysian Boeing passenger plane, flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

The investigators reported that the Buk missile launcher with which the plane was shot down had been brought into the part of the Donbas controlled by pro-Russian separatists from the Russian Federation (most likely together with the crew operating the launcher), and was taken back to Russia immediately after the shooting. According to the investigators, about a hundred people may have a connection with this incident, but at this stage no formal accusations have been levelled against any specific person. Regardless of the evidence assembled, the investigators have taken care to avoid any wording which might unambiguously suggest that Moscow bears the blame for the tragedy. Russian government representatives criticised the findings of the JIT, accusing the investigators of ill will and being politically prejudiced.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: JIT: Flight MH17 was shot down by a BUK missile from a farmland near Pervomaiskyi http://www.europeansources.info/record/jit-flight-mh17-was-shot-down-by-a-buk-missile-from-a-farmland-near-pervomaiskyi/

ESO: Background information: MH17 criminal probe to be published next month http://www.europeansources.info/record/mh17-criminal-probe-to-be-published-next-month/

ESO: Background information: Declaration by the High Representative, Federica Mogherini, on behalf of the EU on the second anniversary of the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 http://www.europeansources.info/record/declaration-by-the-high-representative-federica-mogherini-on-behalf-of-the-eu-on-the-second-anniversary-of-the-downing-of-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh17/

ESO: Background information: Victims’ families of downed MH17 flight sue Vladimir Putin http://www.europeansources.info/record/victims-families-of-downed-mh17-flight-sue-vladimir-putin/

ESO: Background information: Publication of the MH17 reports: overview http://www.europeansources.info/record/publication-of-the-mh17-reports-overview/

ESO: Background information: Possible BUK missile parts found in MH17 wreckage: Dutch prosecutor http://www.europeansources.info/record/possible-buk-missile-parts-found-in-mh17-wreckage-dutch-prosecutor/

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