DEFENSE ALERT – A team of international investigators (Joint Investigation Team) has concluded that there are ‘strong indications' Russian leader Vladimir Putin personally approved the delivery of the ‘Buk' surface-to-air-missiles (SAMs) to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine used to down civilian flight MH17 in 2014.
That missile attack killed all 298 people on board the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Passengers and crew that were killed hailed from more than a dozen countries, although nearly 200 were Dutch.
Russia has always denied any involvement in the tragic downing of the airliner over Eastern Ukraine and steadfastly refused to cooperate with the 8½ year international investigation, which has now been suspended.
However, investigators stated that: “There is concrete information that the separatists' request [for SAMs] was presented to the president [Putin], and that this request was granted. “It is not known whether the request explicitly mentions a Buk system.”
As NBC News reports:
“Although we speak of strong indications, the high bar of complete and conclusive evidence is not reached,” Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer said, adding that without Russian cooperation, “the investigation has now reached its limit. All leads have been exhausted.”
Because of this lack of conclusive evidence, members of the Joint Investigation Team said they didn't have enough to prosecute Putin or any other suspects.
Earlier, a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist for their direct involvement in the attack.
The New York Post reported that:
In November 2022, a Dutch court convicted two former Russian intelligence agents and a Ukrainian separatist leader of murder for helping arrange the delivery of the Russian BUK missile system that was used to shoot the plane down from a military base and putting it into position for its launch.
Despite Moscow's denials, the court determined that the Kremlin financed and armed the separatist forces in Donetsk and essentially controlled the breakaway area of Luhansk and its authorities in Eastern Ukraine.
The Post added:
The most senior defendant in the trial was Girkin, a 51-year-old former colonel in the Russian Federal Security Service. At the time of the downing, he was defense minister and commander of the armed forces of the breakaway Donetsk region and now is involved in the Ukraine war.
Dubinskiy, 60, was a former officer in the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, and one of Girkin's deputies in 2014. Like Girkin, he was in regular contact with Russian officials in 2014 and was also head of intelligence in the breakaway Donetsk region.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian separatist Leonid Kharchenko was described as the commander of the military unit who took orders directly from Dubinskiy.
The judges ruled at the time that it was a deliberate action to bring down a plane, even though the three found guilty had intended to shoot down a military aircraft, not a civilian aircraft.
All three fugitives remain at large.
This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.
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