DISINFO: JIT excluded Russia from MH17 probe, ignored Russian evidence
SUMMARY
A Joint Investigation Team, set up by Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine claims that flight MH17 was downed by a Buk missile belonging to the Russian armed forces. Moscow has repeatedly rejected the allegations. Though Russia offered help in the investigation, it was denied the full access to the probe.
The results of an independent Russian investigation concluded that the variant of the Buk launcher used to down the plane had been phased out of Russia's military arsenal years before the incident took place.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, aiming to discredit the criminal trial and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT).
The reason for Russia's non-involvement in the investigation is that the crash did not take place over Russian territory and claimed no Russian lives. Dutch Chief Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke told a Russian newspaper that "if MH17 were shot down over Russia, I would have suggested that Russia be made a member of the JIT group."
The "independent investigation" conducted by Almaz-Antey has long been debunked, and is only one falsehood in a web of misleading, mutually contradictory claims advanced by Moscow since 2015.
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has concluded that flight MH17 was shot down on 17 July 2014 by a missile of the 9M38 series, launched by a BUK-TELAR, from farmland in the vicinity of Pervomaiskiy. At that time, the area was controlled by pro-Russian fighters. The BUK-TELAR was brought in from the territory of the Russian Federation and subsequently, after having shot down flight MH17, was taken back to the Russian Federation. On 24 May 2018, JIT stated that the BUK-TELAR that was used to down MH17 originates from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile brigade, a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation. The JIT reached this conclusion after extensive comparative research. For similar cases, see here and here. For our overview and analysis of disinformation narratives around the downing of MH17, click here.