Investigation Suggests Russian Rebels Responsible For Shooting Down Mh17
DONETSK, Ukraine, July 15 (UPI) — Dutch investigators determined pro-Russian rebels near Donetsk, Ukraine were responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17, killing 298 people.
July 17 marks the one-year anniversary since the aviation disaster, which have only exacerbated tensions on the already volatile Russia-Ukraine border.
A draft of the investigative report authored by the Dutch Safety Board was distributed for review to numerous agencies, including the National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration. The confidential report is several hundred pages long.
Russia dismissed the calls for an international tribunal to prosecute those suspected of downing the airline as “untimely and counterproductive,” in a statement. From the outset, Russia blamed Ukrainian government forces. Citizens of the Netherlands, Malaysia, Indonesia and Britain all perished, and the process of seeking a U.N. tribunal to prosecute any suspects involved is beginning. However, such an initiative will likely be rebuffed by Russia, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, whose veto power could block the formation of such a tribunal.
The preliminary report of the crash, completed in September 2014, suggested the Malaysian airliner broke up in the air likely “as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside,”BBC News reported. At the time U.S. officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said there was a “solid case” that an SA-11 missile — also known as Buk — was fired from eastern Ukraine under “conditions the Russian helped create.” They added that “the most plausible explanation” for the shooting down of the plane was pro-Russian separatists mistook the passenger plane for another aircraft. There was “no evidence of technical or human error.”
The Dutch-led international investigation continues and the final report is expected later this year.
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