Boeing MH17 in July 2014 was shot down over the Donbass by a Russian missile from the anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) "Buk" from the village of Pervomaisky ("DPR"). This conclusion was reached by the court in The Hague during the last, final meeting. At the time of publication of the news, the verdict is still being announced.
Russia at the time of the disaster controlled the territory of the so-called DPR, the court drew attention. At least one of the defendants, Igor Girkin, was in contact with ex-assistant to the President of Russia Vladislav Surkov.
In June, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution in Strasbourg on "Ensuring accountability for the downed flight MH17", which also referred to the Russian Buk missile. According to PACE, the Russian authorities have been spreading misinformation, including conflicting versions of events, and creating confusion.
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, flying MH17 Amsterdam (Netherlands) – Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), was shot down in the sky over the Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. On board were 298 people, all of them died. A joint investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider identified the key suspects in this case, with the call signs "Orion" and "Dolphin". The "Dolphin" turned out to be Colonel General Nikolai Fedorovich Tkachev, Chief Inspector of the Central Military District of Russia. And "Orion" is the current GRU General Oleg Vladimirovich Ivannikov, also known as the former Minister of Defense of South Ossetia Andrei Laptev. He led the actions of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine and, among other things, commanded the Wagner PMC.
There are four defendants in the first case: the Russians Igor Girkin (Strelkov), who called himself the Minister of Defense of the so-called DPR, the ex-head of counterintelligence of the DPR Sergey Dubinsky, as well as his subordinates Oleg Pulatov and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko. Earlier, the prosecutor's office demanded that they all be sentenced to life terms in prison. All the accused are tried in absentia, Pulatov is the only one of the defendants whose lawyers take part in the process (previously, prosecutors noted how he was confused in his testimony).
