OPINION:
Dutch investigators have concluded that the BUK missile system that shot down Malaysian flight MH-17 over East Ukraine was of Russian origin and the shot came from pro-Russian separatist territory.
“Based on the criminal investigation, we have concluded that flight MH17 was downed by a Buk missile of the series 9M83 that came from the territory of the Russian Federation,” chief Dutch police investigator Wilbert Paulissen said on Wednesday, reports the BBC.
Russian state news agencies have been actively attempting to counter the Dutch prosecutor’s findings in the days preceding this announcement, asserting that the missile came definitively from Ukrainian territory. Most likely the Kremlin media apparatus had advanced knowledge of the contents of the conclusions released today.
Intercepted phone calls showed pro-Russian separatists bragging about the shoot down, thinking it was a Ukrainian military aircraft that was hit. Social media posts also confirmed rebels thought they had downed a Ukrainian transport plane. These posts were quickly deleted when it became known it was a civilian airliner.
According to the Dutch, the BUK system was brought into separatist territory on the day of the shootdown and removed that same day back to Russian territory. Apparently the missile was launched near the village of Pervomaiskyi in the Kharkiv region.
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