DISINFO: MH17: JIT did not provide any real evidence
SUMMARY
There is no clear evidence, only general statements. The [MH17] case is based on speculation, and even these data are only partially presented. I would like to emphasise: US satellites were monitoring Donbas. Six years have passed, but the investigation has hardly moved forward. If there were real evidence, they would have been presented long ago. At the same time, the process is now based on speculation, on data that can be interpreted in different ways.
RESPONSE
One of the multiple disinformation narratives on the downing of flight MH17 denying Russia's responsibility and aiming to discredit the criminal trial and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT). The Dutch-led criminal investigation by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has been ongoing since 2014. In order to find out the cause of the crash, the JIT investigated all human remains, personal belongings and wreckage of the aircraft found in the vicinity of the disaster site. The traces were secured and investigated and compared by experts. In addition, the JIT sought and heard witnesses and experts, analysed radar and satellite images, assessed large amounts of telecom data such as intercepted telephone conversations and analysed big data. Read more about the investigation here. On 28 September 2016, the JIT announced that flight MH17 was shot down by a missile from the 9M38 series, which was launched by a BUK TELAR missile system. The system was transported from the Russian Federation to an agricultural field near the town of Pervomaiskiy in Eastern Ukraine, from where the missile was launched. After firing, the system, with 1 missing missile, was brought back to the Russian Federation. On the 24 May 2018, the JIT announced its conclusion that the BUK TELAR used to shoot down MH17 came from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces from Kursk in the Russian Federation. The head of the Joint Investigative Team (JIT) Fred Westerbeke confirmed in an interview with the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, that the United States provided the investigation with classified satellite images from the time and place of the MH17 downing. "Yes, we have them. My officer, who has access to the intelligence materials marked "top secret" and "national secret", saw and analysed the United States' satellite data," Westerbeke said. The US intelligence also released part of the satellite images data and other evidence of a Russian connection to the downing of MH17 shortly after the incident took place. “It is time for Russia to cease its lies and account for its role in the shoot down,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert in a statement on May 24 2019. You can see other examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation on the MH17 case in our database, such as claims that JIT has not established real reasons behind downing of MH17, that US did not provide satellite images to JIT, that it is a US provocation against Russia, and that Russia was found guilty without an investigation into the crash.