Moscow expects that the District Court of The Hague will carefully study and take into account the information provided by the Russian defense concern Almaz-Antey in the case of the crash of flight MH17 when making a decision, Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands Alexander Shulgin said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“Without anticipating the outcome of the trial, we hope, nevertheless, that the information provided by the Russian concern (Almaz-Antey – ed.) Will be carefully studied by the court and taken into account when making a decision,” the ambassador said.
The Russian Federation hopes, he noted, that the court will also take note of other materials previously transferred by the Russian side, including primary radar data and declassified documents of the Russian Ministry of Defense, according to which the missile that allegedly shot down the Malaysian Boeing was transferred in 1986 to a military unit to the territory of Ukraine, from where it did not return to Russia.
A Malaysian Boeing flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on flight MH17 crashed on July 17, 2014 near Donetsk. There were 298 people on board, all of whom died. Kiev blamed the militia for the crash; they said they did not have the means to shoot down an aircraft at such a height. The Joint Investigation Group (JIT), which under the leadership of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Netherlands, without the participation of Russia, is investigating the circumstances of the crash, has previously presented interim results. The investigation claims that Boeing was shot down from a Buk anti-aircraft missile system belonging to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the RF Armed Forces from Kursk.
As Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Vinnichenko told RIA Novosti, the Russian side transferred to the Netherlands not only the data of Russian radars, but also documentation showing that the Buk missile system that hit Boeing belonged to Ukraine, and it was launched from the territory controlled by Kiev, but this the information was ignored by the investigators. At the same time, on the first day of the court session, the prosecution admitted that it had received and is studying the data of the Russian prosecutor’s office.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the JIT’s accusations of Russia’s involvement in the crash of the Malaysian Boeing are unfounded and regrettable, the investigation is biased and one-sided. President Vladimir Putin noted that Russia is not allowed to investigate the plane crash in eastern Ukraine, and Moscow can recognize the results of the investigation if it takes full participation in it. All of the missiles, the engine of which was demonstrated by the Dutch commission to investigate the crash of MH17, were disposed of after 2011, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly stated that Moscow categorically rejects accusations of involvement in the crash of the Malaysian Boeing.