The Netherlands Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday that there are indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the supply to pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine of the ‘Bulk’ air defense system, whose missile was allegedly behind the 2014 downing of flight MH17 in the area.
«There are strong indications that the Russian president decided to supply the ‘Buk Telar’ to the Donetsk separatists. This is the conclusion of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in its investigation into responsibility for the downing,» the entity said in a statement.
The JIT, which is investigating the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight in eastern Ukraine, said, however, that despite these findings «it is not possible to charge Putin» and confirmed that the investigation has been suspended. «The investigation has reached its limit,» he said, according to information from the daily ‘NRC Handelsblad’.
In this sense, the investigation team has pointed out that everything points to the fact that Putin would have played an «active role» in the downing given his involvement in the delivery of these missiles, which led to the downing of the plane.
The JIT has been working since 2014 alongside countries such as Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine to resolve the case. In late 2022, a court in The Hague sentenced three pro-Russian rebels ‘in absentia’ to life imprisonment for their involvement and after years of investigations.
Now, the group has explained that although the investigation is suspended for the time being, this does not mean that it will not be resumed once more evidence is gathered about what happened.
Justice confirmed in the past that the missile that hit the aircraft was a ‘Buk’ that was launched from a farm and left 283 passengers and fifteen crew members dead.
The judges concluded that there is ample evidence to support the hypothesis that the missile was Russian and was launched from that territory, which was then under the control of pro-Russian forces.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
