An international group has suspended a criminal investigation into the crash of a Boeing MH17, which was shot down in July 2014 by a Russian missile from a Buk air defense system from the direction of the village of Pervomaisky in the “DPR”. Investigators were unable to identify the crew members who operated the missile system and found no evidence to open a new case. It is reported by The Washington Post with reference to the Dutch prosecutor's office.
Prosecutor Digna van Bötzelaer said the investigation had reached its limit, all leads had been exhausted.
According to the prosecutors' report, there is strong evidence that the decision to supply the Buk missile system to Ukrainian "separatists" could have been made personally by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Subsequently, the Buk was used to shoot down the MH17 aircraft. However, while much new evidence has been uncovered, it is not specific enough at the moment to open a new investigation into certain individuals.
In November 2022, a court in The Hague, based on the results of an investigation that lasted 2.5 years, found that at the time of the crash of the Boeing MH17, the Russian Federation gave orders to the “separatists” and controlled the territory of the “DPR”. In June, a resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on "Ensuring accountability for the downing of flight MH17" was adopted, which also referred to the Russian Buk missile. According to the PACE report, the Russian authorities have been spreading misinformation all along, including conflicting versions of events, to create 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, who is also the former Minister of Defense of South Ossetia Andrey Laptev, who led the actions of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine and, among other things, commanded the Wagner PMC.
One of the four defendants in the case of the crash is the ex-Minister of Defense of the "DPR" Igor Girkin (Strelkov/Runov). The ex-head of counterintelligence of the "DPR" Sergei Dubinsky and his subordinates Oleg Pulatov and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko are also on trial. In November, a court in the Netherlands found Girkin guilty of the crash, he was put on the international wanted list. It is known that Girkin was in contact with the former assistant to the President of Russia Vladislav Surkov. None of the accused are personally present at the hearings, they are tried in absentia.