More Kremlin lies: 15 lies in letter of Russian ambassador to Malta on MH17
Maltese newspaper ‘The Malta Independent’ published in the June 1, 2018 edition a letter written by the Russian ambassador to Malta Vladimir Malygin. The letter was about MH17 and titled ‘MH17 Tragedy: New Old Allegations’
A copy of the article is shown at the end of this blog. Russian Foreign Ministry published the letter at its website.
As usual, the response by Kremlin officials in a response to JIT conclusions is full of clear lies. In this blog I will mention all the lies.
This blog is a long serie of blogs showing the many lies by Kremlin. For example here, here, here, here , here and here.
Nonsense #1:
Just like in the case of the Salisbury poisoning incident in the UK in March and the fake chemical attack in Syria’s Douma in April, the claims are made before the investigation is concluded and without presenting any evidence.
Nonsense. Both in the Skripal case and in the Douma case investigation organizations reponsible for factfinding did not report their findings. JIT presented at two pressconference a selection of evidence and indications. JIT stated, not soley based on the presented evidence, but also based on evidence which for obvious reasons cannot be made public, Russia is responsible for providing the BUK TELAR that shot down MH17 killing 298 people.
Nonsense #2 ,#3 and #4:
The investigators based their conclusions on a compilation of photos and videos from social media, the authenticity of which cannot be verified, while at the same time admitting that they can neither say with certainty what type of missile was used to down the plane, nor name suspects, and that a lot of work still needs to be done.
JIT based their conclusions not just of the evidence shown during the press conferences. The authenticity can be verifiedby as the videos showing the BUK transport were made and uploaded in June 2014, long before MH17 was downed.
JIT concluded the BUK TELAR belonged to the 53rd brigade based in Kursk. The next step is to find the names of the suspects. And indeed a lot of work needs to done as Russia does not cooperate.
Nonsense #5:
Russia has been cooperating with the investigation more than anyone else
JIT many times requested Russia to cooperate. For example by requesting to hand over the raw radar data of all radar stations. Instead Russia frustrated JIT and DSB by first handover just a videorecording of radardata while stating Russia had deleted the raw radar recordings. Deleting radar data while innocent does not make sense at all. Two years later Russia handed over the radardata in an unusual format. And Russia never handed over the radardata of the Baturinskaya radarstation. Russia did not respond to questions on the serialnumber on the BUK. These are just the publically known failures to cooperate.
Nonsense #6:
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has always responded quickly and in full to all inquiries
See what I wrote under nonsense #5. Russia handed over radar data more than 2 years after the shotdown.
Nonsense #7:
Russia has also passed on primary raw data from radar surveillance of the airspace at the time of the tragedy
Dutch public prosecution service stated that Russia did not hand over the raw radar data of Baturinskaya radarstation despite two requests for doing so. The first request was done in October 2014. The second more specific was done in March 2017. After four years no response to the request to hand over Baturinskaya radar data!
Nonsense #8:
Besides, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed that not a single anti-aircraft missile system of the Russian Armed Forces had ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border.
JIT made clear it has irreputable evidence which shows Russian Federation provided the BUK TELAR which belonged to the 53rd Brigade based in Kursk.
Nonsense #9
All this was simply ignored
Nonsense. Fred Westerbeke, head of the JIT, stated that all Russian information has been included in the file.
Nonsense #10
Also, nothing is being said about the maximum possible assistance which Russia has been providing ever since the tragedy
See the nonsense debunked under Nonsense #5
Nonsense #11
and our country’s role in initiating and passing UN Security Council Resolution 2166 that calls for a thorough and independent international investigation.
Resolution 2166 was an initiative by Australia. Stating that Russian Federation had a role in initiating is a lie! (source)
Nonsense #12 and #13
For example, this is proved by the Dutch side’s refusal to assess the main cause of the tragedy, that is, the failure of Ukraine’s authorities (in violation of international regulations) to establish a no-fly zone for civil aircraft above the domestic conflict zone.
The main cause of the tragedy is that Russian army staff did not check if civil aircraft were in the neighborhood. They likely made a mistake and believe MH17 was a military aircraft. The shootdown is the main cause.
Not closing the airspace is not in violation. There are no clear definitions which make clear when an airspace should be closed. There was a non-fly zone under flightlevel 320.
Nonsense #14
Nor did the Dutch ask Kiev to provide radar data or information on the actions of air traffic control services.
The Dutch Safety Board requested Ukraine for radar data. Ukraine provided secondary radar data. Ukraine stated it did not have primary radar data available as all radar stations were in maintenance. Later it turned out one radarstation was destroyed.
JIT in the September 2016 press conference stated it obtained primary radar data recorded by a mobile radarstation located in Ukraine.
Nonsense #15
It should also be noted that the United States has never provided the satellite photos related to the crash, which, as the US claimed immediately after the tragedy, were readily available.
In January 2016 Dutch Minister van der Steur informed the parliament that US handed over information to the Dutch Military Intelligence Bureau (MIVD)
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