Fresh proof of Ukraine downing flight MH17: Russia

Russia on Monday claimed it had proof Ukraine was behind the 2014 downing of a passenger aircraft that claimed the lives of all 298 people on board.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov told the press in the Russian capital that video material presented as evidence by an international team of investigators into the fatal downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was "falsified".

"We have an audio recording of telephone conversations of Ukrainian servicemen made in 2016," Konashenkov was cited as saying by Efe news.

"An analysis of its content confirms earlier made conclusions about the direct involvement of the Ukrainian side in the crash of the Malaysian Boeing."

The Joint Investigation Team, made up of experts from the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine, Australia and Malaysia, previously confirmed that the anti-aircraft Buk missile system that brought down the passenger jet belonged to the Russian armed forces.

Investigators found the system was brought to Ukraine from the western Russian city of Kursk about one month before the plane was downed.

According to the Russian military, the missile that brought down the aircraft when it was flying over pro-Russian rebel-held territory in East Ukraine was delivered to the Ukrainian military by Russia back in 1986 and went into service in 2014 as part of Ukraine's 223rd anti-aircraft regiment.

Chief of the Missile and Artillery Directorate at the Russian Defence Ministry Lieutenant-General Nikolai Parshin said the missile "never returned" to Russian territory after the collapse of the USSR, and remained in the hands of the Ukrainian military.

The JIT concluded that the Buk rocket was fired from a field in Pervomaiskyi, eastern Ukraine, which at the time was in the hands of pro-Russian rebels.

All 298 people, among them 196 Dutch, were travelling on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur when it was brought down by an air-to-surface missile fired from eastern Ukraine in July 2014.

The Netherlands and Australia accused Russia of having brought down the plane, that it has categorically denied.

--IANS

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