MH17 case: prosecutors find evidence that Putin agreed to supply missiles to Kremlin-backed DPR militants

Reuters reported the information.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which is investigating the MH17 tragedy, has convincing evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally signed the decision to supply the Russian missile system to Ukraine.

The BUK missile system was then used to shoot down the MH17 passenger plane en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

However, Reuters noted that prosecutors do not have enough evidence to bring criminal charges. And BBC correspondents reported that investigators "have no reason to believe" that Putin was personally involved in ordering the downing of the plane.

• The Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 with 298 people on board, which was flying MH-17 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), was shot down over the temporarily occupied territory of Donbas on July 17, 2014. All people were killed: 283 passengers and 15 crew members. 

• After 4 years of investigation, on May 24, 2018, the Joint Investigation Team presented a report that concluded that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, over the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine by a BUK missile launcher of the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces. The International Investigation Team showed a piece of the missile that shot down MH17.

• On December 20, 2021, prosecutors said that the BUK system was brought from Russia on the eve of the downing of the plane and charged the defendants with murder. And on December 21, prosecutors said that the investigation had identified the Russian BUK system by 15 features. The Dutch prosecutor's office demanded life imprisonment for the 4 defendants in the downing of flight MH17 - 3 Russians and 1 Ukrainian: Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko. The prosecution believes that the perpetrators should pay compensation to the families of the victims.

• On June 10, 2022, the trial of the MH17 plane shot down over the Donetsk region ended in the Netherlands. 

• On July 16, 2022, the EU called for the prosecution of those responsible for the downing of the plane.

• On November 17, 2022, The Hague court announced the verdict: the plane was shot down in 2014 by Donetsk separatists. According to the tribunal, the BUK missile system was fired from the village of Pervomaiske, Donetsk region. At the time, the village was under the DPR control. According to the verdict, Igor Girkin and his subordinates, Sergey Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko, are guilty of the crime. They are responsible for the deaths of 298 people. Oleg Pulatov, who was another suspect, is considered innocent.