'Strong indications' Putin approved system which shot down MH17, say prosecutors

Image: BUK Missle system © Vitaly Kuzmin

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) team investigating the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 operating flight MH17 by a missile has said it has convincing evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the decision to allow the missile system into Ukraine.

Flight MH17 was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on 17th July 2014 and was in the sky over the eastern part of Ukraine when the Russian-made and supplied BUK-TELAR missile system was used to shoot it down, killing all 298 passengers and crew onboard.

The JIT says that intercepted phone calls suggest that Putin personally rubber-stamped the weapons transfer to the Russian-backed separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where MH17 was shot down.

Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer said:

"There are strong indications that the Russian president decided on supplying the Buk TELAR to the DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) separatists"

However, members of the JIT in the Netherlands said they did not have enough evidence to prosecute any more suspects and suspended their eight-and-a-half-year inquiry into the tragedy.

“Although we speak of strong indications, the high bar of complete and conclusive evidence is not reached,” van Boetzelaer told a news conference in The Hague

Russia has denied involvement in the incident and refused to cooperate with the international investigation.