Putin awards honorary title to anti-aircraft missile brigade that shot down MH17 

This is stated in Putin's decree.

The Russian occupiers were awarded "for mass heroism and courage, fortitude and bravery shown by the brigade's personnel in combat operations to protect the Fatherland and state interests."

"To award the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade the honorary title of 'Guards' and hereinafter refer to it as the 53rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade," Putin's decree reads.

• Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 with 298 people on board, which was operating flight MH17 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), was shot down in the temporarily occupied territory of Donbas on July 7, 2014. All people were killed: 283 passengers and 15 crew members.

• After four years of investigation, on May 24, 2018, the Joint Investigation Team presented a report that concluded that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine by a Buk missile system 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 November 17, the court announced the verdict that the Russian-controlled DPR and Igor Girkin and his subordinates, Sergei Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko, were responsible for the tragedy.