By GEO´Newsdesk Team
City of London Newsroom
After years of tense investigations, the Dutch-led Joint Investigative Team (JIT) announced in late June the names of four suspects, all of them pro-Russia militants, who they claim played a key part in the destruction of the jet. The JIT is confident the plane was brought down by a Russian BUK surface-to-air missile fired from the rebel-controlled territory.
An international inquiry into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 believes high-level Russian officials were directing separatists in eastern Ukraine linked to the attack. Investigators allege a top aide of President Vladimir Putin was in contact with rebel leaders on a regular basis, Inquiry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova said "international investigators had manipulated the inquiry to suit a predetermined conclusion."
The Boeing 777 passenger jet was destroyed above a Ukraine conflict zone in 2014, with all 298 people on board losing their lives when a missile struck the plane over rebel-held territory on 17 July 2014.
Investigators have charged four people to date, including a separatist defence chief. The suspects are due to go on trial, probably in absentia, in April 2020.
The Netherlands-based inquiry team have not linked Russia directly to the attack on the plane but they say "intercepted phone-calls" show contact with two of the four suspects already charged with murdering the passengers and crew.
What caused the MH17 Crash?
While MH17 is not mentioned in the phone-taps, provided by Ukraine's SBU intelligence, investigators believe Moscow officials knew what was going on on the ground and had influence over "administrative, financial and military matters" in the separatists' self-styled Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia disagreed with the conclusions of an international investigation that named three Russians and a Ukrainian this week as suspects in the downing of a passenger plane over Ukraine in 2014. Speaking to reporters after his annual question-and-answer session, Putin said the investigation had not presented any proof that Russia was responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.
How the BUK Missile System works
