The Kremlin stressed Thursday that it «does not accept the results» of the investigation conducted by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) into the 2014 downing of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, which points to indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the supply to pro-Russian forces of the ‘Bulk’ anti-aircraft defense system that carried out the shooting.
«Russia was not involved in the investigation, so we cannot accept these findings. What is more, justifications for these claims have not been made public,» Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
In this regard, he has stressed that the conversation between Putin and the former leader of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic Igor Plotnitsky cited by the JIT does not include references to arms deliveries. «Not a word is said about weapons, even if we were to assume that the conversation was real, which I neither confirm nor deny,» he said.
«In any case, there is not a word about weaponry. No one has published any other talks, so it is impossible to say anything about it,» the Russian presidential spokesman stressed.
The JIT, which is investigating downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight, stressed on Wednesday 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.
The JIT has been working since 2014 alongside countries including 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.
The court 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)
