There are “strong indications” that Vladimir Putin Personally signed the decision to allow Russian missile system he fell Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) In ukrainesay the investigators.
Dutch prosecutors said on Wednesday that an international team probing the 2014 collapse has strong evidence of the Russian president’s involvement.
Investigators said the BUK-TELAR missile system was used to shoot down MH17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia Airlines plane with 298 killed in crash east of Ukraine’s Donetsk
(AFP via Getty Images)
The team outlined their findings as they suspended their investigation – saying they had insufficient evidence to launch a new trial.
“The investigation has now reached its limit. All leads have been exhausted,” said Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer as the team began to lay out the evidence it had uncovered.
Wednesday’s presentation by investigators comes nearly three months after a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian insurgent for their roles in the July 17, 2014 shooting down of a Boeing 777 in eastern Ukraine that killed all 298 passengers and crew. Death had happened. One Russian was acquitted.
None of the suspects appeared for trial and it is unclear whether the three who were convicted of multiple murders will ever serve their sentences.
Moscow has always denied involvement in the tragedy
(AP)
The conviction and the court’s conclusion that the Buk surface-to-air missile that blew the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur out of the sky came from a Russian military base was seen as a clear indication that Moscow was involved in the tragedy. It was a role.
Russia Always refused to join.
The Russian Foreign Ministry in November accused the court of bowing to pressure from Dutch politicians, prosecutors and the news media.
But the November conviction recognized that Moscow was in overall control of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic in 2014, the separatist region of eastern Ukraine from which the missile was launched.
The Bak missile system came from the Russian Army’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade based in the city of Kursk.
Most of the 298 victims were Dutch.
(AP)
The Joint Investigation Team is made up of experts from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine.
Most of the victims were Dutch. Ten were British nationals.
The Netherlands Public Prosecution Service said on its website, “Indications of close ties between the leadership of the Donetsk People’s Republic and officials of the Russian government raise questions about their involvement in the deployment of the missile”. region and “high-ranking Russian government officials held in the summer of 2014”.
The Dutch and Ukrainian governments are suing Russia in the European Court of Human Rights over its alleged role in the downing of MH17, alongside an ongoing criminal trial in the Netherlands.