MH17 trial: Two Buk missile systems transported from Russia to Donbas in 2014

MH17 trial: Two Buk missile systems transported from Russia to Donbas in 2014

Ukrinform
The prosecution in MH17 trial stated that at least two Buk missile systems had been transported to Ukraine from Russia in 2014, but one of them broke down along the way.

"In 2018, the Bellingcat reported that the transportation of the Buk system, which was used to down the passenger plane, was managed by Russia’s military intelligence service officer Oleg Ivannikov. However, at the first court hearing in MH17 trial in the Netherlands, the prosecutors said that the Buk system, Ivannikov was in charge of, had not been delivered to the militant-controlled territories in Donbas. The Buk, which downed the plane, was the other surface-to-air missile system,” BBC reports.

At the same time, the lawyers of one of the four suspects, retired Lieutenant Colonel of Russia’s Airborne Forces Oleg Pulatov, appealed in court that the airspace over Ukraine had not been closed and the investigation "did not consider this matter."

However, the prosecutors believe that the MH17 case differs much from other incidents of aircraft downing. And the main difference is that the Russian Buk system, primarily, was not supposed to be in Ukraine. Thus, a plane crash is the result of a criminal act.

"The court will not consider whether Ukraine should have closed its airspace. Whatever the answer to this question is, it does not hold those guilty of launching a rocket on a civilian plane free from liability," prosecutors said.

The court announced that the investigation had considered, analyzed and attached to the case all the files previously provided by the Russian side, as well as the statements made at press conferences.

The prosecution said that journalists and activists had made a huge contribution to the investigation into the tragedy. Some of them "risked their live to disclose the truth."

As reported, the trial of four men suspected in the downing of MH17 started in the Netherlands on March 9.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over conflict-hit Donbas in July 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. All of them died. The JIT reported that the plane had been shot down from a Buk missile system that belongs to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.

In May 2018, the Netherlands and Australia formally accused Russia of being responsible for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet.

On June 19, 2019, the international Joint Investigation Team named four suspects believed to be involved in the transportation and combat use of the Buk missile system, from which MH17 flight had been downed. Three of them are Russians: Igor Girkin (Strelkov), former colonel in Russia's FSB intelligence service and former so-called defense minister of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic”; Sergey Dubinskiy, general (at the time of downing – colonel) of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and head of the so-called “Main Intelligence Directorate of the Donetsk People’s Republic”; Oleg Pulatov, lieutenant colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The fourth suspect is Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian civilian, who fought on the side of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic.”

None of them was present at the court hearing. The interests of Pulatov are represented by the lawyers.

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