DISINFO: The West will lie about the crash of IL-76, just as it lies about flight MH17
SUMMARY
In 2014, the Ukrainian military, trying to carry out a provocation, also shot down a plane – a Malaysian Boeing operating flight MH17... The international investigation into the IL-76 crash will not be much different from the investigation into the Boeing 777 crash in the Donetsk region. Under conditions of fierce confrontation between Russia and the West, standard regulations are highly likely to be violated. In particular, violations will be committed in favor of the Ukrainian side in order to protect it from involvement in the incident.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation claim taking advantage of the crash of a Russian military transport plane IL-76 near the Russian city of Belgorod on 24 January 2024 to revive a well known disinformation staple, the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine. The claim portrays Russia as a victim of Western media and false flag operations.
The downing of the military aircraft Ilyushin-76 (IL-76) and its circumstances are still under investigation. What is known is, that the IL-76 came down in the Korocha district of Russia’s Belgorod Oblast on 24 January 2024. The Russian Ministry of Defence quickly blamed Ukraine for the downing of the plane, claiming that Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board. However, neither the allegations of Ukrainian responsibility nor the claims of Ukrainian prisoners being on the aircraft have been substantiated by facts.
On 17 July 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed in Eastern Ukraine. As a result, 298 passengers and crew members died. Russia's involvement in the attack on the Malaysian Boeing is confirmed by evidence collected by independent experts. The conclusions of international experts were officially agreed in the Netherlands, Australia, the United States, the G7 countries, the EU and NATO.
A trial using the work of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) took place in The Hague. According to the JIT, the Buk TELAR missile used to shoot down MH17 originated from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces from Kursk in the Russian Federation. This is the result of the extensive comparative investigation of the JIT.
On the basis of this investigation, Igor Girkin (Russian Ministery of Defence staff and commander of the armed forces of the separatist "Donetsk Peoples Republic" (DPR)), Sergey Dubinskiy (commanding officer) and Leonid Kharchenko (commander) were found guilty of 298 accounts of murder and "unlawfully causing an airplane to crash" and sentenced to life imprisonment. All were tried in absentia.
See our interview with the Dutch Safety Board, tasked with investigating the cause of the crash of MH17.
The Kremlin ecosystem has tried to spin the downing of MH17 in several ways - see our overview here.
Read more disinformation cases about the downing of the flight MH17.