Joint investigation team working on the MH17 downing over Donbas in July 2014 announced the completion of the investigation. At the same time, materials were published indicating that it was Putin who personally decided to provide the terrorists with the Buk air defense system, which shot down the plane.
During a press conference in The Hague, Deputy Attorney General of the Netherlands Digna van Butzelaer announced the suspension of the investigation. The reason is that the effect has reached its limit. However, this is for now.
Evidence of Putin's involvement
At the briefing, investigators released recordings of telephone conversations, which are in fact evidence of Putin's direct involvement in the tragedy. In particular, some passages say that the decision to provide the Buk air defense system, which was requested by the terrorists in the Donetsk region, was made personally by the Kremlin dictator. The conversations said that “only 1 person makes the decision, and now he is in France.” On June 5-6, 2014, Putin was in France at the celebrations marking the anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy in World War II.
There is concrete information that the separatists' request was passed on to the President and that the request was granted. It is not known if the request refers to the Buk system. Somewhat later, heavier air defense systems appear, including the Buk from which MH17 was shot down. While we are talking about strong evidence, the high bar for complete and conclusive evidence has not been reached. In addition, the president enjoys immunity as head of state, the investigators stated.
In addition, recordings of a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and militant leader Igor Plotnitsky were made public at the press conference, which proves that the Kremlin dictator personally supervised the militants in the Donbass and was interested in continuing the war.
Recordings of Putin's conversation and Plotnitsky: watch the video
Digna van Butzelar noted that certain results of the investigation will be published in the near future, however, not all materials will be made public, because this may interfere with further investigation in the future. However, the established facts are sufficiently vague that an investigation is not possible at this stage.
The investigation has now reached its limit. Everything was exhausted. Therefore, the investigation is suspended. Currently, the established facts are not sufficient to prosecute new suspects, van Butzelaer stressed.
Ukraine's reaction
Prosecutor General Andrey Kostin reacted to the theses voiced at the press conference and the published notes, emphasizing that now no one doubts the involvement of the top Russian leadership in the war in Donbas.
what all Ukrainians have known for a long time, today sounded official as the conclusion of the joint investigation team investigating the crash of flight MH17. Now no one has any doubts about the involvement of the top leadership of Russia in it. It was the president of the aggressor country who gave the criminal order to supply arms to the “DNR” and “LNR” groups. This was the root cause of the tragedy that claimed the lives of 298 civilians,” Kostin stressed.
Now the difficulty of obtaining evidence and functional immunity does not allow Putin to be held directly responsible for the crimes, however, the Prosecutor General assured that this will definitely happen and Ukraine is doing everything you need for this.
Recall that the Malaysian Boeing-777 aircraft was flying MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The Russians shot him down over the Donbass on July 17, 2014. As a result of the crash, all the people on board died – 298 people. Most of them are citizens of the Netherlands.
