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officials from the Netherlands and Australia these days formally mentioned that they are satisfied Russia became accountable for the deployment of the “Buk” anti-plane missile system that shot down Malaysian airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in 2014. The announcement got here a day after a Dutch-led joint investigation crew launched a file on their findings, which concluded the missile had belonged to the Russian military’s 53rd anti-plane brigade, which became based mostly outside the metropolis of Kursk, north of the Ukrainian border.
physical proof accrued by investigators, together with radar track and flight recorder data, pointed to the use of a specific warhead classification linked to Buk floor-to-air missiles. Paint transferred from fragments of the missile to the aircraft’s fuselage changed into matched with recovered parts of the missile.
Russia has long denied that any of its armed forces device ever crossed the border into eastern Ukraine, and the Russians offered a few option scenarios—together with blaming the downing of the airliner on a Ukrainian Air force pilot. The Russians at the beginning claimed to have radar evidence proving their allegation, however the country then stated it turned into misplaced—handiest to claim they’d found the evidence again simply two days earlier than the Joint Investigative group’s 2016 press conference. The separate target that Russia claimed to have identified on radar became basically part of MH17’s fuselage breaking away after the missile detonated.
a good portion of the facts pointing to the involvement of the fifty threerd brigade’s missile methods came from open source intelligence analysis, which used photos and movies posted by Russians to social media websites displaying a convoy of automobiles from the fifty threerd headed toward the Ukrainian border. particulars from the images and movies, including license plates on the militia vehicles and particulars of the surroundings that were matched with Google road View photos, offered investigators with the route and timeline of the Buk missile programs’ actions.
additional analysis from investigators and journalists at the open source intelligence analysis community Bellingcat, the Russian investigative information site The Insider, and McClatchy information provider’s Washington, DC bureau identified an officer of Russia’s main Intelligence Directorate (Glavnoye razvedyvatel’noye upravleniye, abbreviated as GRU) who become tied to the deployment of the Buk antiaircraft equipment worried in the shoot-down of MH17.
Working from interviews with separatists, recorded mobile calls, and calling software records, the group was able to track down Oleg Vladimirovich Ivannikov—even calling him on his linked quantity and getting him to establish himself, which offered a voice pattern within the method. Ivannikov has been linked with other covert military operations, including serving under a pseudonym for eight years within the government of the Russian-backed separatists in South Ossetia—first as chairman of the security council and later as defense minister.
Russian journalists stated that Ivannikov’s latest position included featuring practising and money for “inner most” militia operations in Syria, such because the one which attacked US forces (and become overwhelmed again with heavy casualties) earlier this yr.
There has up to now been ample proof of Russia’s involvement with eastern Ukraine separatists. Russian social media has even offered videos made through Russians of rocket launches from the Russian aspect of the border targeting Ukraine. Google Earth photographs have shown proof of Russian armed forces vehicle move and rocket launches. And Russian troops have even made social media posts from inside Ukraine, including the strange case of “Sergeant Selfie”—a Russian soldier who left geo-tagging grew to become on whereas posting photos of himself internal his armored car.
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