What's new in the investigators' conclusions regarding the downing of MH17 over Donbass? The MH17 disaster: how Russian media versions have changed

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The Netherlands and Australia have officially accused Russia of a missile attack on a Malaysia Airlines Boeing that killed 298 people four years ago. The international investigation received all the evidence that the plane was shot down by a Buk missile launcher brought to Ukraine from near Kursk.

Russia supplied the militants with the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, Russia urgently removed it after the crash of Boeing MH17, and now Moscow is obstructing the international investigation and does not provide information to investigators - prosecutors and police from Holland, Malaysia, Australia and other countries. This was officially announced by the governments of Australia and the Netherlands.

“We will inform the UN Security Council about the findings of the investigative team and the decision to recognize Russia as legally responsible. We see that our allies support these steps,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

The countries of the European Union, the United States of America and the NATO bloc also officially called on Russia to “admit its responsibility” for the downing of the Boeing, stop the disinformation campaign and cooperate with the investigation.

“We have said from the beginning that we will bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice, and for nearly four years we have been part of the investigation team and will continue to do so to bring justice to the victims and their families who are still grieving the loss of their loved ones.” – added Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

As stated in The Hague, the investigation may continue by transferring the case to an international court for sentencing.

“Thanks to the outstanding work of the Joint Investigation Team, there is now conclusive evidence of a direct link between the Buk surface-to-air missile system that shot down flight MH17 and Russian army,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok.

Yesterday the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) released the latest findings from its criminal investigation. The Buk air defense system, from which a Malaysian Boeing was shot down near occupied Torez, arrived from near Kursk - from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade as part of a column of Russian troops.

Like any vehicle, the Buk anti-aircraft gun had specific features: damage, transport markings, special caterpillar roller, remains of a painted over number. All this was captured in photos and videos of witnesses of the transportation - first in Russia, then in Ukraine.

Investigators also have fragments of the rocket itself with serial numbers.

New results of a parallel investigation were published today by the expert journalistic group Bellingcat. They identified a militant with the call sign “Orion” who was involved in the delivery of the Buk from Russia to the occupied part of Ukraine and back.

“This man was a high-ranking officer at that time in the so-called Lugansk People's Republic. He represented Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU,” says Bellingcat investigator Moritz.

Oleg Vladimirovich Ivannikov, as it turned out, does not just serve in the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. 10 years ago he was the minister of defense of the self-proclaimed South Ossetia. And he directed the supply of weapons to the Lugansk People's Republic. Here is his voice on an intercepted telephone conversation:

“They are taking revenge for the planes today, but there are still a couple of days left there. We already have a Buk, fuck it, we’ll shoot it down.”

The Kremlin denies all accusations. The missile with this number, they say, was written off and disposed of long ago, our military and weapons are not in Ukraine, and in general, Kyiv is to blame for the disaster.

“In order for us to recognize what is stated there, we must take full part in the investigation,” said Vladimir Putin.

Russian authorities- the main accused in the murder of passengers and crew of the plane. Why is the Putin-Medvedev government not invited to participate in the investigation? For example, to Russian intelligence services did not create false evidence, intimidate or kill witnesses.

International investigators are asking for help in collecting information from anyone who knows the circumstances of the actions of the Russian military.

“The Joint Investigation Team will maintain the utmost confidentiality of all information received and all persons providing it,” said Australian Federal Police Chief Jennifer Hurst.

Investigators said that all evidence and charges against specific individuals will be made public when the investigation is completed. This will happen in the courtroom.

Yaroslav Steshyk; photo - Francois Lenoir/Reuters/Forum

This is how she commented on the statement of her New Zealand colleague Winston Peters, who doubted that Russia was responsible for the tragedy. International investigators claim that the plane was shot down by a Buk air defense system from an area under the control of the DPR.

Data from the Russian radar station indicate that the launch took place from the territory where Ukrainian air defense systems were located. According to experts, the West has begun to understand that the case is being conducted unprofessionally and is being deliberately delayed.

RT found out why politicians started talking about the non-involvement of the Russian Federation in the disaster over Donbass.

“Contradicts the interests of the country”

Australian Foreign Minister Julia Bishop said that there is no point in talking about any conclusions from the investigation by the international Joint Investigation Team (JIT) into the crash of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 over the Donbass on July 17, 2014. Of the 298 deaths, 38 were Australian citizens.

“The investigation is ongoing and, when completed, the findings will be shared with prosecutors for legal action, which Australia also strongly supports,” the Australian Foreign Minister said. “It is impossible to form an opinion on the evidence because it has not yet been made public.”

Earlier, Bishop made much more confident statements on this matter. Thus, in October 2016, she argued that it was necessary to find those responsible for the destruction of the plane “in the Russian military command.”

"IN Lately Australia’s policy has changed and become less confrontational towards Russia,” Mikhail Alexandrov, an expert at the Center for Military-Political Studies at MGIMO, noted in an interview with RT.

The political scientist associates this change with losses from anti-Russian sanctions and the resignation of Tony Abbott, who made anti-Russian statements, from the post of Prime Minister in 2015.

Bishop's new statement came after her New Zealand colleague Winston Peters, in an interview with local publication Newshub, said that there was no evidence of Russia's involvement in the destruction of a civilian aircraft.

“You are saying that the person who launched the missile did so on the instructions of Russia. The big problem is that your argument, from a legal point of view, immediately languishes because you have no evidence of it,” said the New Zealand Foreign Minister.

Speaking about the proposal to resume negotiations on the creation of a free trade zone with Russia, interrupted in 2014, Peters emphasized that his country cannot waste time waiting for the results of the investigation.

“If the results reveal that these insinuations do not have factual confirmation, then we will simply be wasting our time, and this does not meet the interests of our country,” the minister noted.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters Reuters

Source: http://rusvesna.su/news/1520968587

“There really is no evidence,” notes Alexandrov. - And the involvement of Donbass militias has not been proven either. There are many indications that it was the Kiev regime that shot down the plane. Both New Zealanders and Australians understand this. But New Zealanders are more free in their statements, and Australians are still bound to the United States by the ANZUS military treaty ( New Zealand and the United States broke the military cooperation agreement back in 1987), so they are more cautious.”

Illegitimate investigation

The criminal investigation into the Malaysia Airlines Boeing MH17 crash has been ongoing for four years - since the creation of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on August 4, 2014, which included representatives of Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.

On October 13, 2015, the Dutch Safety Board published the results of a technical investigation, in which it stated that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was part of the Buk, Buk-M1 and Buk-M1-2 air defense systems. . In October 2016, the JIT stated that the missile was launched from the area of ​​the villages of Pervomaiskoye and Snezhnoye, which was controlled by DPR militias.

As an expert noted in an interview with RT International organization civil aviation(ICAO) Vitaly Bordunov, JIT is, in principle, an illegitimate institution from the point of view of international law.

"If only they were decent normal people who truly respected international law, they would have acted as expected. Ukraine should have organized an appropriate investigation together with Malaysia, which was not done,” the expert notes.

According to Bordunov, the Boeing MH17 crash over the Donbass falls under Article 26 and Annex 13 of the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation.

According to the document, Ukraine, as the country where the tragedy occurred, had to enter into an investigation agreement with Malaysia, which owned the aircraft, and not with the Netherlands, and register it according to ICAO rules. The agreement also had to be tested for compliance with the principles of the Chicago Convention. This procedure presupposes control over the investigation by ICAO. None of this was done.

“This international commission was created outside the framework of international law, it is headed by a local police officer in a small Dutch town, where there are no specialists or anything,” the expert emphasizes.

All this is typical for current situation in the world, if anything happens, Russia is to blame. It doesn’t matter that there is no evidence.”

According to the expert, “ICAO stands aside,” and the investigation itself resembles more of a “conspiracy” to blame Russia.

In October 2016, Moscow handed over to the investigation primary radar data that cast doubt on the Joint Investigation Team’s conclusions about the missile launch that shot down MH17.

“As both the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and representatives of the Almaz-Antey concern have already stated, when launching a rocket from Pervomaisky it is in mandatory would be reflected on the radar data. But this is not reflected on the radar,” noted Russian Foreign Ministry official Maria Zakharova in November 2018.

However, the investigation has not yet responded to this data.

“As experts note, all this is simply recorded, everything is visible in this layout, but they didn’t pay attention to our data, as if they didn’t exist,” Bordunov noted.

Bias factor

On March 12, 2018, the Dutch investigative journalism program Zembla named the main suspects in the downing of the plane.

This is allegedly the former Minister of Defense of the DPR Igor Strelkov, his subordinate Sergei Dubinsky and retired Colonel General of the Russian Armed Forces Nikolai Tkachev. Allegedly, these names were reported to the investigation by the Security Service of Ukraine.

Previously, journalists, including Australian ones, have repeatedly come out with similar “sensational” revelations, however, according to Bordunov, “this is a fake, from a legal point of view it is impossible to take this evidence seriously.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly noted the special attitude of the Joint Investigation Team towards Ukraine. In particular, there is no negative reaction to the fact that Kyiv is hiding some information: it refuses to provide data on the negotiations of military controllers and the location of Ukrainian air defense systems of the Buk family. At the same time, Russia, unlike Ukraine, does not have the status of a full member of the GCC. In addition, the JIT uses as evidence materials from the “investigation” of the Bellingcat website, based on data from social networks.

“In legal language this is called bias, an unwillingness to figure out who did what,” says the ICAO expert. “And if so, then I don’t know how long this investigation will last, there are games going on here.”

On February 22, 2018, the Dutch Ministry of Justice announced the extension of the investigation until 2019, although it had previously planned to publish the results at the beginning of 2018. The department reported this in a report to parliament.

According to the Dutch Ministry of Justice, the remains of the victims’ bodies are still being collected, four years after the disaster. However, despite the incompleteness of the investigation, The Hague is “preparing for the start of the trial.” And although the Ministry of Justice of the Netherlands claims that it has familiarized itself with the report of Russian specialists, the conclusions drawn from it have not been announced.

“There is no clarity on this issue,” says Bordunov. “The only conversation going on is that Russia is to blame for everything.”

In October 2017, the Dutch Supreme Court allowed the government not to publish the results of the Joint Investigation Team's investigation.

“They can’t tell the truth,” says Mikhail Alexandrov. - If we confirm the non-involvement of Russia and the Donbass militias, then we must blame Ukraine. And it will be political swipe in Kyiv."

According to the expert, as soon as the investigation admits that Ukraine shot down the plane, it will call into question the country’s relations with Europe, which neither the United States, nor NATO, nor the EU will do.

“They cannot lie openly, nor can they admit the truth, so they are dragging their feet,” summed up Aleksandrov.

Investigators and detectives have identified 100 people who may have been involved in the disaster.

The Dutch public prosecutor's office, following the fall in Ukraine, published a summary of the results of the investigation, which is being conducted by an international team of prosecutors and detectives. We publish full text document and video reconstructions related to the crash of flight MH17.

“International investigation team: flight MH-17 was shot down by a Buk air defense missile fired from the area of ​​the Pervomaisky village.

Members of the International Investigation Team investigating the causes of the crash of flight MH-17, which occurred on July 17, 2014, are convinced that they have irrefutable evidence that the airliner was shot down by a 9M38 series anti-aircraft missile from the Buk anti-aircraft missile system. In addition, the investigation has evidence that allows it to be asserted that the missile launch site was a field in the area of ​​the Pervomaisky village, which at that time was under the control of pro-Russian militants.

This was announced today during a presentation for relatives of those killed in the disaster. The states that are members of the International Investigation Team (Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine) are conducting a joint criminal investigation into the causes of the airliner crash.

Today, the investigation presented interim conclusions, including regarding the weapon system from which the plane was shot down and the location of the missile launch. The investigation into those responsible for the disaster continues.

Versions

Expert research, witness testimony, data taken from mobile communication networks, satellite images, radar data, expert opinions and other evidence available to the investigation indicate that the plane was shot down from the ground by an anti-aircraft system.

It is noted that the International Investigation Team has also studied other versions of the causes of the disaster. In particular, the investigation ruled out versions of an emergency situation and a terrorist attack on board the plane. On the contrary, the results of expert studies confirm the version that the plane was subjected to destructive influence from the outside. The version that the airliner was shot down in the air by a military aircraft was worked out, but based on radar data, witness testimony and expert research, it was found unfounded.

The international investigative team has a sufficient amount of radar data (obtained from both Ukraine and Russia), which together gives full picture airspace over the eastern part of Ukraine. Based on these data, it was established that at the time of the disaster there were no aircraft nearby that could shoot down flight MH-17.

Last week Russian Federation announced the discovery of “new” primary radar data, on the basis of which it also concludes that there are other aircraft There weren’t any that could have brought him down.

Means of destruction

The investigation showed that flight MH17 was shot down by a 9M38 missile used in the Buk anti-aircraft missile system. The investigation compared fragments of the alleged weapon found at the crash site with comparison material.

For this purpose, disassembly was carried out various types missiles of the 9M38 series of the Buk air defense system and carried out comparative analysis this support material with metal fragments found at the disaster site.

Video presentation: Weapons:

Forensic examination

The task of the group of experts was to establish a connection between the discovered fragments and the circumstances of the downing of flight MH17. It was necessary to prove that these fragments were not located on the territory in question before the disaster and were not placed there by third parties subsequently. The crash site was not fenced off for the purpose of examination by forensic experts. Obviously, access to the crash site was free.

Two examples confirming the connection:

During the autopsy of the bodies of the flight crew members, several fragments of the warhead of the 9M38 series missile of the Buk air defense system were discovered. On the surface of one of the fragments, traces of glass of the characteristic type used in the cockpit structures of the Boeing 777 aircraft were identified. It was determined that this fragment penetrated into the aircraft from the outside through the cockpit window.

A metal fragment was found in one of the window openings, identified as a fragment of a 9M38 series missile from the Buk air defense system. This fragment was pulled out of the opening in a deformed form, which indicates that it fell into the window as a result of a high-power explosion.

Video presentation: Forensic examination:

Transportation of air defense systems

The international investigative team managed to establish most the route followed by the Buk air defense system to the territory of Ukraine, as well as the route of its movement in the opposite direction. This became possible thanks to the processing of information obtained from the records of intercepted telephone conversations, witness statements, photographs and video materials posted in in social networks, as well as video material that has not yet been made public and was received from a witness. The air defense missile system moved from Russian territory to the territory of Eastern Ukraine and was later transported on a white Volvo tractor and a trawl. Given vehicle accompanied by several cars and people in military uniform.

Rocket launch area

The final destination of the Buk air defense system was farmland near the village. Pervomaisky. This fact is confirmed by the information provided big amount witnesses who saw and managed to record the condensation trail of a missile launched using the Buk air defense system, as well as its movement in the air. Another group of witnesses could establish a connection between the condensation trail and the Buk SAM system, which they saw earlier on July 17, 2014.

The investigative team worked with witnesses who saw a column of smoke and a Buk air defense system at the site of the missile launch in the area of ​​the village. Pervomaisky, as well as the rocket itself, after its launch.

Journalists interviewed witnesses who observed the rocket launch from a short distance from the launch site. These witnesses claim that they heard a very intense and high-pitched whistling sound.

After the missile was launched using the Buk air defense system, the Buk air defense system left the missile launch site under its own power. After some time, she was again loaded onto a Volvo tractor and taken to the Russian border. At night the convoy crossed the border in the direction of the Russian Federation.

Persons responsible

Having determined what happened, the investigation is now focusing on identifying those responsible. It will take a lot of time to answer this question. On this moment The International Investigation Team has identified approximately 100 people who may be involved in the downing of MH17 or the transportation of the BUK self-propelled gun system. The International Investigation Team obtained information about these people from various sources, such as intercepted telephone conversations and witness statements.

In addition, an investigation is underway into the command structure. Who gave the order to bring the BUK self-propelled gun system to Ukraine and who ordered the downing of flight MH17? Did the BUK crew make the decision on their own, or did they follow the orders of their command? These questions are important for the classification of crimes committed by suspected perpetrators.

The international investigation team wishes to emphasize that it continues to search Additional information and evidence, including information about witnesses who were directly related to crime committed. Ukrainian legislation provides for a shorter prison term and, under certain circumstances, exemption from criminal liability for those who cooperate with the investigation.

In addition, the website www.jitmh17.com includes a number of intercepted telephone conversations. An international investigative team is requesting information about certain people who took part in these conversations. People who can identify these voices are asked to contact the International Investigation Team.

The International Investigation Team will be actively involved in the investigation in the near future and, for these reasons, the agreement with the International Investigation Team was extended yesterday until January 1, 2018.”

Video reconstruction of the Buk:

Moscow. September 28. website - Today, an international group of investigators involved in the investigation of the crash of a Malaysian Boeing near Donetsk in the summer of 2014, about the causes of the disaster. In her opinion, the plane was shot down from rebel-controlled territory by a Buk anti-aircraft missile system (SAM), which was brought to Donbass from Russia and then returned back.

However, investigators did not name the specific culprits of the tragedy. According to them, this remains to be seen, and therefore no official statements about Russia’s involvement in the crash of flight MH17 and the death of 298 people were made at the press conference. As a result, the work of the international investigation team was extended until the beginning of 2018.

The international team investigating the downing of MH17 includes experts from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine. The group is led by a representative from the Netherlands.

Russian Buk

The head of the investigation department of the Dutch police, Gilbert Paulissen, said at a press conference that the 9M38 missile was launched from the Pervomaisky area, which at that time was controlled by the militia. According to him, this is confirmed by satellite data received from the United States and the European Space Agency. According to him, the Buk air defense system used to launch the missile was brought to eastern Ukraine from Russia and then returned back.

The Prosecutor General of the Netherlands and coordinator of the investigation, Fred Westerbeke, in turn, emphasized that investigators are ruling out two scenarios for the tragedy - a technical malfunction and a terrorist attack on board the liner. In addition, according to him, at the time of the crash there were no other aircraft near the Malaysian Boeing.

Hundreds of people under suspicion

Westerbeke added that the international group of investigators knows about 100 people who are involved in the missile launch and transportation of the Buk air defense system. He explained that these people are not automatically suspects, and in order to declare them as such, investigators need to establish the entire chain of command - from whom the order to launch the missile came and how it was transmitted. “This will already make it possible to determine which of those involved will be a suspect and which a witness,” the prosecutor general said.

He separately emphasized that the international group is still leading to the crash of the Malaysian Boeing. According to the investigation coordinator, the work of the international investigation team has been extended until the beginning of 2018.

DPR denies the accusations

In the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, addressed to him at a press conference international group investigators. “We did not have this kind of air defense systems in our arsenal, neither systems nor specialists. Therefore, we could not shoot down the Boeing,” deputy commander of the Donetsk operational command Eduard Basurin told Interfax. He called the destruction of a civilian aircraft senseless and “madness.”

Basurin said that this is the second time the international commission has made incorrect conclusions, as it is deliberately led into a dead end. According to him, for two years now the American side has not shown the satellite images it allegedly has - evidence that the plane was shot down from the territory of the militia, and Ukraine has not provided its data on the presence of planes in the air at the time of the tragedy.

Basurin also suggested that the Boeing could have been shot down by a Buk missile, which is in service with the Ukrainian army. “Such complexes have remained in Ukraine’s arsenal since Soviet times. This could be one of them,” he said.

Ukraine was satisfied

According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the release of information about the route of the Buk air defense system, from which the Boeing was shot down, indicates the involvement of the Russian Federation in the death of the airliner.

“A new and extremely important element of today’s report is information about the route by which weapons came from Russia to the territory of Ukraine and were taken out in the opposite direction through a section of the Ukrainian-Russian border controlled only by the Russians and their militants. This once again indicates the direct involvement of the aggressor state to downing the plane," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Position of the Russian side

First expert conclusions

On October 13, 2015, the Dutch Security Council commission, which was investigating the causes of the plane crash, published a report stating that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from a Buk air defense system.

On the same day, the general director of the Almaz-Antey air defense concern, Yan Novikov, citing his own investigation, stated that the missile was launched towards the Boeing not from Snezhnoye, but from settlement Zaroshchinskoye, which at that time was controlled by the Ukrainian military.

Two days before the publication of the results of the international investigation, on September 26, the Russian military announced that the Utes-T radar complex located in the Rostov region was approaching any airborne objects from the eastern regions of Donbass controlled by the militia, for example, from the village of Snezhnoye. According to the boss Radio technical troops Russian Aerospace Forces Andrei Koban, the radar near the village of Ust-Donetsky recorded only two civilian airliners in the vicinity of the Malaysian plane.

At the same time, the Russian Aerospace Forces have information that Ukrainian air defense systems were located in the area of ​​the Boeing crash in Donbass. And, according to Koban, “the fact that Ukraine has not yet made public information from the radar suggests that the missile launch site - if it was a Buk - was located on territory controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

On the same day, official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov said that due to the position of Ukraine, which does not provide data on the location of its crews of the Buk air defense system on the day of the disaster, negotiations between dispatchers, the activity of its radars and the operation of Ukrainian air defense systems, the investigation " is following the wrong trail - from conflicting data on the destructive elements to an incorrect determination of the type of missile and, as a consequence, the location of its launch." He promised that Russia would provide Holland with irrefutable information regarding the Boeing crash.

Peskov sends inaccuracies to the military

After a briefing at the Russian Ministry of Defense, a Ukrainian journalist asked Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov why, according to the data released on Monday, at the time of the tragedy no other aircraft were recorded near the airliner, although it was previously stated that a Ukrainian Su-25 was seen near it.

Peskov forwarded this question to the military - specialists “who understand radar readings.” He later added that “the primary readings are a picture that carries a lot of technical information,” and “the radar readings are pure and the primary readings are completely different pictures.”

He later stated that primary data from Russian radars clearly indicate that the missile that allegedly caused the Boeing crash was launched from territory not controlled by the Donbass militias. "If there was a missile, it could only be launched from another territory. I am in this case I’m not saying which one. This is a matter for specialists,” Peskov said, emphasizing that this is “not a hypothesis, but unambiguous data based on primary radar data.”

Boeing crash near Donetsk

A Boeing 777 airliner of Malaysia Airlines, en route from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), was shot down in the airspace over the Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. There were 298 people on board, all of them died. Of these, 192 were citizens of the Netherlands (one had US citizenship), 44 citizens of Malaysia, including 15 crew members, 27 citizens of Australia, 12 of Indonesia, 10 of Great Britain (one also had citizenship of South Africa), four Germans and four Belgians, three Filipinos, one Canadian and one New Zealand.

To investigate the tragedy of August 7, 2014, an international joint investigation team (Joint Investigation Team, JIT), which includes prosecutors and representatives of other law enforcement Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and Malaysia, as well as representatives of Eurojust.

Illustration copyright Getty Images Image caption According to Dutch investigators, a Buk missile exploded to the left of the Boeing cockpit.

More than two years have passed since the crash of the Malaysian Boeing in the skies over Ukraine. During this time, Russian media repeatedly questioned the results official investigation the causes of the tragedy that claimed the lives of 298 people. The BBC monitoring service tracked how the versions of the disaster changed in the interpretation of the pro-Kremlin media.

Spanish dispatcher

July 17, 2014 at 19:00 Moscow time news channel LifeNews reported about a “new victory for the Donetsk militias,” who allegedly managed to shoot down another An-26 transport plane of the Ukrainian Air Force. This time - near the city of Torez.

“It all happened around five o’clock in the evening, Moscow time. An An-26 was flying over the city, suddenly a rocket hit it, there was an explosion, the plane began to fall,” the presenter noted, commenting on an amateur video from the scene. The news was immediately picked up by many news sites and the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

However, less than an hour later it became clear that the footage shown on Russian television channels was not an An-26 at all, but a Malaysian Boeing flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.

In the first hours after confirmation of information about a downed passenger airliner in the skies over Ukraine, Russian media rejected the possibility of Donetsk separatists being involved in the disaster.

“Experts assure that it is impossible to shoot down the airliner with the means that the rebels have at their disposal so high,” said a correspondent for the Vremya program on Channel One.

“The plane crashed in the area of ​​the village of Grabovo, not far from the village of Snezhnoye, which was bombed just the day before yesterday, very intensively bombed by the Ukrainian Air Force,” noted the journalist of the Rossiya TV channel.

In parallel with this, alternative theories, including conspiracy theories, began to actively spread in the media. Late in the evening of July 17, the Russian-language website of the RT television channel published a tweet from a “Spanish dispatcher” in Kyiv that a few minutes before the Boeing crash, Ukrainian military aircraft were spotted near it.

The message was soon picked up by the Rossiya-24 TV channel, as well as a number of online publications. Soon the Twitter account of the “dispatcher” was recognized as fake and blocked.

Putin's plane

Another version that gained wide currency in the Russian media in the evening of the same day was the theory that the likely target of those who shot down the Boeing was probably Air Force One of the Russian President, returning from a Latin American tour.

“The contours of the aircraft are generally similar, the linear dimensions are also very similar, and as for the coloring, at a fairly distant distance it is almost identical,” Interfax quoted a source in the Federal Air Transport Agency as saying.

The next day, while the world's headlines were filled with accusations against the Kremlin, Russian state television channels continued to blame Ukraine for the incident.

“Formally, the Malaysian airliner was shot down in peaceful skies. Despite the fact that the Ukrainian authorities declared the area over the southeast no-fly on July 8, transit trains continued to operate,” noted the Vesti correspondent.

At the same time, a new conspiracy theory appeared on the Internet: the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper reported, citing “eyewitnesses” and one of the then separatist leaders, Igor Strelkov, that perhaps some of the Boeing passengers were dead before the crash.

However, a few days later, this version, as well as rumors about an attempt to shoot down Air Force One, faded into the background, giving way to official statements by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Disappearing Buk

On July 20, US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking on CNN, accused Russia of supplying large quantities of weapons to separatists in eastern Ukraine.

On July 21, Russian state television channels stated that, according to Russian military data, a group of Ukrainian Buk anti-aircraft systems appeared in the Donetsk region on the eve of the tragedy and disappeared shortly after it.

“In addition, at the time of the crash, there was another object on the same echelon with the airliner - a Ukrainian Su-25,” the Vesti presenter noted, citing data from the Ministry of Defense.

At the end of May 2015, the international independent group Bellingcat stated that the photographs of the Ukrainian Buk complex, which allegedly recorded its movement on July 14 and 17, 2014, were fake.

On July 25, 2014, the version about the Ukrainian Buk was again heard on TV screens. This time, the NTV channel, citing the opinion of an expert, stated that the Boeing-777 could have been shot down during an exercise by the Ukrainian air defense forces.

On September 9, the Dutch security service published a preliminary report on the causes of the crash of flight MH17. His main conclusion- The Boeing fell apart in the air as a result of external influence.

On the same day, a correspondent for the Rossiya TV channel criticized the opinion of experts, again recalling that the Ukrainian military allegedly has Buks at its disposal. "This photograph shows a missile system with a rotated launcher. On July 17, it in an unexpected way disappeared somewhere,” he noted.

“Specialists are confident that the experts missed the time when a full and objective investigation could have been carried out. The Ukrainian side seemed to have deliberately done everything possible to the real reason it was no longer possible to clarify the disaster,” the correspondent concluded.

Sensational photo

However, in November of the same year, the version about the Ukrainian Buk was unexpectedly replaced by a new one - about an air-to-air missile.

The host of the “However” program, Mikhail Leontyev, said that “Channel One has at its disposal a sensational photograph, allegedly taken by a foreign spy satellite in the last seconds of the flight of a Malaysian Boeing over Ukraine.” In the photograph, the presenter noted, “a missile is clearly visible from under the left wing” of the MiG-29 fighter “directly into the cockpit.”

“In short, there was most likely no Buk,” he concluded.

The episode of the "However" program was aired on Channel One on November 14 - a few days before the G20 summit in Australia. According to Leontyev himself, “in anticipation of important meeting world leaders... the topic of the investigation into the deaths of passengers on that flight is more than relevant,” and the sensational footage “speaks in favor of the version that was almost never heard in the West.”

On the evening of the same day, a similar story with “photo evidence” of the destruction of the plane by a fighter appeared on the Rossiya TV channel. On the same day, popular Russian photoblogger Ilya Varlamov discovered signs of fake satellite footage.

Secret Witness

After the loud exposure of the fake photo, the version about the fighter began to be actively discussed in the Russian media again at the end of 2014.

This time the reason was a publication in the newspaper " TVNZ" dated December 22. As the publication reported, journalists "found a witness who claims that the Malaysian Boeing was shot down by a Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft.

“In the case of the Malaysian Boeing, a secret witness has appeared whose testimony clears all charges against the militia and Russia,” the authors of the article concluded. Soon this story was picked up by online publications, major TV channels and even the Investigative Committee of Russia. However, the story did not end there.

In early June 2015, the “secret witness” again appeared in the headlines of state media. “The investigation into the Boeing crash in the Donetsk region is progressing noticeably. And today in Investigative Committee Russia has been given the name of the main witness,” Channel One reported on June 3. According to journalists, he turned out to be former Ukrainian soldier Yevgeny Agapov.

At the same time, Russian media reported the results of an investigation conducted by the developer of the Buk anti-aircraft systems, the Almaz-Antey concern. According to the company's experts, the Malaysian Boeing was shot down over the Donbass by a 9M38M1 missile fired from the Buk-M1 complex. At the same time, representatives of the concern at the press conference did not rule out that the missile could have been fired by Ukrainian air defense.

In response, Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins said that Almaz-Antey used incorrect and edited images in its report on the MH17 crash.

Special operation

According to this version, on July 17, 2014, a bomb exploded on board the Boeing. “I’m almost sure that the plane was destroyed from the inside, and this was a special operation,” an expert from the federal government said then on the TV channel. information center"Analytics and Security" Sergey Sokolov.

Outdated "Buk"

On October 13, the Dutch Security Council published the final report of its investigation into the causes of the crash, which stated that the airliner was shot down by a missile launched from a Russian-made Buk.