'Strong' signs Putin to blame for supplying missile that shot down MH17

There are “strong indications” Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the decision to supply the missile system used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, an international team has said.

However, evidence of Mr Putin’s and other Russian officials’ involvement in the shooting down of MH17 was not concrete enough to lead to a criminal conviction, and the probe will end without further prosecutions, a press conference at The Hague heard.

Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer said: “The investigation has now reached its limit. The findings are insufficient for the prosecution of new suspects.”

While Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte added it was a “bitter disappointment” that the investigation had ended without further prosecutions.

“We will continue to call the Russian Federation to account for its role in this tragedy,” Mr Rutte said.

Guilty may never face justice

The fate of the investigation was announced three months after a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian rebel for their roles in shooting down the Boeing 777 on 17 July 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew. One Russian was acquitted.

None of the suspects appeared for the trial and it is unclear if the three who were found guilty of multiple murders in their absence will ever serve their sentences.

Russia has always denied involvement in the tragedy. It launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the court of bowing to pressure from Dutch politicians, prosecutors and the media.

But the convictions, combined with the court’s finding that the surface-to-air Buk missile which brought down the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight came from a Russian military base, were seen as clear indicators Moscow had a role.

In November prosecutors argued Moscow was in overall control of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, the separatist area of eastern Ukraine where the missile was launched from, at the time of the disaster in 2014.

Hague hears calls indicating Putin’s likely involvement

Evidence cited at The Hague on Wednesday provided the closest links so far between Mr Putin himself and the weapons responsible for downing MH17.

Intercepted phone calls between leaders of the breakaway region and “high-ranking Russian government officials held in the summer of 2014” were described by prosecutors.

The intercepts suggested Mr Putin had to approve the supply of weapons to separatists.

Prosecutors also played a 2017 conversation between Mr Putin himself and the Russian-appointed chief administrator of Ukraine’s Luhansk province, in which the two discussed the military situation.

“The indications for close ties between the leadership of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Russian government officials raises questions about their involvement in the deployment of the missile,” the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service said on its website.

The Buk missile system came from the Russian military’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade in the city of Kursk, investigators found.

But they could not trace the specific soldiers who fired the weapon at flight MH17.

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As well as the criminal trial held in the Netherlands, the Dutch and Ukrainian governments are suing Russia at the European Court of Human Rights over its alleged role in the downing of the passenger plane.

Piet Ploeg, who heads a foundation representing victims, said he was disappointed the investigation had ended, but was glad prosecutors had laid out their evidence of Mr Putin’s involvement.

He said: “We can’t do a lot with it, Putin can’t be prosecuted.

“We wanted to know who was ultimately responsible and that’s clear.”

Mr Ploeg’s brother, his brother’s wife and his nephew died on MH17.

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