A British-led online investigation has linked Russian soldiers to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014.
Up to 100 Russian soldiers and officers could have known about or been involved in the plane’s downing on July 17, 2014, according to the Bellingcat report, published this week. The passenger plane is believed to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile. All 298 people on board died in the crash.
The report, first reviewed by The Guardian, specifies that a Buk missile belonging to the 2nd battalion of Russia’s 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade likely shot down the Boeing 777.
The members of the battalion were not revealed in the public report, but their identities were provided in a version given to Dutch prosecutors in December.
The new report raises the likelihood that “justice could be served” for the families of the victims of the crash, Bellingcat head Eliot Higgins told The Guardian.
“We found all the names and faces of the commanders in that second battalion. Was one of them the one who shot down MH17? We can’t say for sure, but the police could have information that would allow them to incriminate them,” Mr. Higgins said. “We want to say to the families of the victims that Russia was responsible, and we can say more, that these were the people in the unit that could be responsible.”
He added that Bellingcat’s finding show that responsibility for the crash ultimately lies with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military leadership that ordered troops and equipment to Ukraine in 2014.
Russia has denied its troops involvement in the crash and has blamed the tragedy on Ukrainian forces.
Bellingcat said its report was temporarily unavailable on Wednesday morning because of a distributed denial-of-service attack. It did not specify who was behind the attack.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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