Dutch safety investigators have implicated Russian-backed separatists in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Eastern Ukraine. The inquiry found that a Buk surface-to-air missile likely fired from territory under rebel control brought down the Boeing 777 on July 17, 2014, killing 298 people on board, according to the Dutch Safety Board report released Tuesday.
The report also highlights the hodgepodge system used to keep commercial airplanes away from conflict zones where they could be caught in the crossfire.
The Russian company that makes the missiles issued its own report earlier on Tuesday clearing Kremlin-backed Ukrainian separatists. Russian state-owned media covered the report, highlighting how it disproves the Dutch investigation. (Here is coverage by English-language Sputnik International and Russia-language Komsomoloskaya Pravda.)
The pre-emptive counter report is typical of the information war Moscow is waging over Ukraine, where it invaded Crimea and has backed separatist fighters from eastern Ukraine’s large ethnic Russian population.
Leaning on the report by the Russian state-controlled arms maker, a top Russian official dismissed the Dutch-led inquiry as “biased” on Tuesday. The “attempt to make a biased conclusion, in essence to carry out a political order, is obvious,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
The Dutch Safety Board ruled out other possible causes, concluding a BUK missile was the most likely cause for the crash.
Moscow-backed separatists are likely responsible for the firing the missile, according to a wealth of evidence, including launch analysis, on the ground reports from the time and intercepted cell phone conversations.
Russia is parrying the report’s findings, which imply greater involvement of Russian military forces in Ukraine. The BUK missile system almost certainly would have come from Russia and required months of advanced training. Or it might have even been directly operated by Russian forces.
Within hours of the crash, many Russia watchers were saying as much. Within a day, Ukraine released audio of a phone conversation it says it intercepted between separatist commanders discussing the downing of MH17.
Moscow has denied any such allegations. Instead, it has led an information campaign muddying the waters and at times blaming Ukrainian forces. On Tuesday, the state-owned RT media outlet pulled at any thread it could to cast doubt — no matter how specious or irrelevant — on the Dutch Safety Board’s report.
The missile detonated near the cockpit, slightly above the crew and on the left side of the flight deck, according to the report. The Dutch Safety Board analyzed the last 20 milliseconds of the cockpit voice recorder to triangulate the blast’s sound wave.
The report ruled out other causes, such as in-flight break up or fuel tank explosion, on technical grounds. The Dutch Safety Board also considered and ruled out other anti-air weapons.
BUK missile systems were the only weapons systems known to be in the area capable of bringing down MH17, the report concludes.
Moscow-backed separatists almost certainly brought down MH17, based on analysis of the missile’s launch location and on the ground reports.
Three separate analyses, including one by Russian missile maker JSC Concern Almaz-Antey, put the likely launch site in territory controlled by rebels on July 17, 2014.
Both Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists reportedly have BUK missile systems. Ukrainian forces were not known to have any of the systems in the area at the time.
The same day the airplane was destroyed, an Associated Press reporter saw a BUK missile system near the separatist-held village of Snizhne. The day after the crash, Western news media published photos reportedly showing a BUK missile system in Torez, which is next to Snizhne.
The Dutch Safety Board report reconstructs in terrifying detail the last moments of MH17, which took about 90 seconds to hit the ground. It is possible passengers and crew members remained conscious after the initial explosion.
The missile tore the cockpit off the airplane. The pilots and purser were instantly killed. Many of the passengers and the rest of the crew likely felt the shock wave and a blast of hot air followed by the plane’s sudden deceleration and then rapid acceleration as it fell to the earth.
A hodgepodge system is used to manage flights over conflict zones, according to the report.
The no-fly zone’s ceiling had been incrementally expanded by Ukrainian authorities before MH17. However, commercial jetliners fly higher than the no-fly ceiling, which was 32,000 feet at the time.
In the days before MH17 was shot down, there was evidence that separatists could down a passenger jet. Two Ukrainian aircraft were downed by anti-air weapons with the range to hit a commercial jetliner.
It appears commercial airlines were largely unaware of that, though, as 160 commercial flights flew over the conflict the day that MH17 was shot down. Three other passenger planes were in the vicinity when it was hit.
The Dutch-led Joint Investigating Team is continuing a criminal investigation into the crash.
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
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