Putin likely approved MH17 missile supply: investigators

GBNEWS24DESK//

International investigators have said there were “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the supply of the missile that shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.

But the team on Wednesday said they were halting their probe into the disaster since there was not enough evidence to prosecute more suspects and Putin has immunity as head of state in any case.

All 298 people on board were killed when a Russian-made missile slammed into the plane travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, sending it crashing to earth in separatist-held eastern Ukraine.

“There are strong indications that a decision was made at presidential level, by President Putin, to supply… the Buk TELAR” missile system, Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer said.

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

The announcement comes less than three months after a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian in absentia over the downing of MH17.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the decision was a “bitter disappointment” but that “we will continue to call the Russian Federation to account”.

Russia has denied any involvement in the downing of MH17. It slammed last year’s court verdict convicting the three men as “scandalous” and politically motivated.

‘President’s decision’

But the chain of command was clear, said the Joint Investigation Team into the crash of MH17, which comprised the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine.

Russian officials even postponed a decision to send weapons to Ukrainian separatists because Putin was at a D-Day commemoration in France in June 2014, they said.

They played an intercepted telephone call from an adviser saying the delay was “because there is only one who makes a decision…, the person who is currently at a summit in France”.

Putin himself could also be heard speaking about a “military component” in another call with a separatist leader from the Lugansk region.

Other officials such as Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu did not have the necessary decision-making power and “this was ultimately the president’s decision”, they said.

However, with a lack of cooperation from Moscow and a dearth of witnesses willing to come forward, the case has now ground to a halt.