Russian troops involved in shooting down Flight MH17 ‘in mortal danger as Vladimir Putin looks to eliminate evidence linking Russia to tragedy’
Dutch-led investigators have identified a specific Russian military unit as supplying the Buk missile that downed the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014
RUSSIAN troops accused of shooting down MH17 are in mortal danger as Moscow stages a cover-up of the plane’s loss, claims a former secret services chief.
Around 20 military personnel are known to be involved, but officials say their identity is being kept secret for the sake of "their own safety".
Yesterday Dutch-led investigators identified a specific Russian military unit as supplying the Buk missile that downed the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
"The Buk that was used came from the Russian army, the 53rd brigade," said chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke.
Vasil Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian SBU secret service, said the names of some 20 Russian military suspects are known but for the sake of their “safety” they are not being disclosed.
“We are studying a rather narrow group of people who are involved in committing this horrible crime,” he said.
The former head of Ukrainian foreign intelligence Mykola Malomuzh has warned that the “culprits or witnesses... lives are in danger” and some may be dead already.
"There are reports that several of these people have been killed - or have died,” he told Ukrayina TV.
Exiled Russian former deputy premier Alfred Kokh said: “The cautious Dutch finally decided to say what had been clear for a good while - the Malaysian Boeing was knocked down by Russian military people.
"In other words – by Putin.”
To move such military hardware across an international frontier from Russia into Ukraine woulds have required an order from the “very top”.
Meanwhile, a group of the bereaved from the demise of the Boeing 777 have made a powerful direct appeal to Russia to come clean about what happened.
In a blunt message aimed at Vladimir Putin and linked to the World Cup, starting next month, they said: “We cannot deny that from our perspective, a shadow hangs over this event.
“We are painfully aware of the dark irony that the Russian leaders who will profess to welcome the world with open arms, are those who are chiefly to blame for shattering our world.
“And that it is these same leaders who have persistently sought to hide the truth, and who have evaded responsibility ever since that dreadful day in July 2014.”
They stated: “We appeal again for the Russian government to cooperate fully with the international investigation into MH17.
They accuse the Russian media of a “vile and deceitful campaign” loaded with fake news and “multiple, often contradictory stories, about what happened to MH17 coming out of Russia”.
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But Putin said Russia would only recognise the findings if Russia was part of the investigation.
"For us to recognise what is said there, we should be a full-scale party of the investigation,” he said.
Russia claims it is being framed over the crash.
Moscow says that the missile claimed as being fired by the JIT was taken out of service in Russia in 2011.
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