MH17: ‘Strong indications’ Vladimir Putin approved supply of missile, say investigators

Team say Russian President made decision to give weapon to group that down Malaysia Airlines plane

The crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 near the village of Hrabove in Russian-controlled Donetsk, Ukraine, in 2014. AP

Investigators looking into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014 have said there are “strong indications” Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the supply of the missile that shot down the aircraft.

“There are strong indications that the Russian President decided on supplying the Buk TELAR to the DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) separatists,” the joint investigation team from six countries said on Wednesday, citing intercepted phone calls.

But they said evidence of Mr Putin's and other Russian officials' involvement was not concrete enough to lead to a criminal conviction, and that they would end their investigation without further prosecutions.

Investigators had previously said they wanted to find out who actually crewed the BUK missile, and who was in the chain of command. The missile was allegedly brought from a Russian military base in the city of Kursk.

But they admitted that was not possible for now.

“The investigation has now reached its limit,” prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer told a news conference in The Hague. “The findings are insufficient for the prosecution of new suspects.”

Russia has denied any involvement in the downing of the civilian airliner, which killed 298 passengers and crew.

In November, a Dutch court found three men guilty of 298 counts of murder in the downing of the flight and ordered them to pay more than €16 million ($16.5 million) in compensation.

Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko were found guilty of murder and intentionally causing an aircraft to crash, head judge Hendrik Steenhuis said.

Australian officer and member of MH-17 Joint Investigation Team Davic McLean speaks during a press conference on the results of the ongoing investigation into other parties involved in the downing of flight MH17. AFP

Russian citizen Oleg Pulatov, who was the only defendant represented by lawyers, was found not guilty. None of the men attended the two-and-a-half-year trial.

Reading the verdict, Mr Steenhuis said that the three accused men did not directly fire the missile but supervised its deployment and its swift repatriation to Russia after the incident in the hope of averting an international outcry.

At the time the plane was shot down, Ukrainian forces were fighting Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province.

While Russia had annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, it denied military involvement in fighting in Donetsk at that time.

But as part of the conviction of the three men in November, the Dutch court ruled that Russia had in fact had “overall control” of separatist forces in Donetsk starting from May 2014.

Prosecutors said on Wednesday they could not identify the specific soldiers responsible for firing the missile system that downed the plane, which came from Russia's 53rd brigade in Kursk.

They cited a 2014 phone intercept between Russian officials as evidence that Mr Putin's approval had been necessary before a request for equipment made by the separatists could be granted.

Russian officials even postponed a decision to send weapons to Ukrainian separatists because Mr Putin was at a D-Day commemoration in France in June 2014, the investigators said.

They played an intercepted telephone call from an adviser saying the delay was “because there is only one who makes a decision (...), the person who is currently at a summit in France”.

In addition, they played a 2017 conversation between Mr Putin himself and the Russian-appointed chief administrator of Ukraine's Luhansk province in which they discussed the military situation and a prisoner exchange.

In pictures: Investigations continue into Malaysian Airlines flight MH17

Inspectors arrive for investigations at the crash site of Boeing 777, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 airplane, which crashed during flying over the eastern Ukraine region near Donetsk, Ukraine. EPA/ANASTASIA VLASOVA

Two workers carry the remains of a passenger at the main crash site of the Boeing 777 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed during flying over the eastern Ukraine region, some 100 Km east from Donetsk, Ukraine. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

College students gather around candles forming the shape of an airplane, during a candlelight vigil for victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, at a university in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province on Saturday. Ukraine accused Russia and pro-Moscow rebels on Saturday of destroying evidence of "international crimes" as guerrillas and foreign observers faced off over access to the wreckage of the downed Malaysian airliner. REUTERS/Stringer

A young girl places a bouquet of flowers in commemoration of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane accident in eastern Ukraine in front of the Dutch embassy in Kiev. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

Ukrainian rescue workers carry the body of a victim on a stretcher through a wheat field at the site of the crash of a Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 298 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in Grabove, in rebel-held east Ukraine. Outraged world leaders have demanded Russia's immediate cooperation in a prompt and independent probe into the shooting down on July 17 of flight MH17 with 298 people on board. AFP PHOTO / DOMINIQUE FAGET

Alexander Hug (second from the right), Deputy Chief Monitor of the Organisation for Cooperation and Security in Europe's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, and members of his team wait to visit the site of the crash of a Malaysian airliner carrying 298 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in Grabove, in rebel-held east Ukraine. AFP PHOTO / DOMINIQUE FAGET

An armed rebel soldier guards the main crash site of the Boeing 777 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Journalists document the passengers' belongings at the main crash site of the Boeing 777 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai speaks during a news conference at a hotel near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. Liow said on Saturday he believed Russia was doing its best to ensure a safe route to the site of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and appealed to the world to help ensure bodies can be retrieved quickly. REUTERS/Edgar Su

Local residents walk among the wreckage at the site of the crash of a Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 298 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in Grabove, in rebel-held east Ukraine. AFP PHOTO/ ALEXANDER KHUDOTEPLY

A group of coal miners sweeps a wheat field looking for remnants of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 on Saturday in Grabovo, Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed killing all 298 on board including 80 children. The aircraft was allegedly shot down by a missile and investigations continue over the perpetrators of the attack. Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Mr Putin however benefits from immunity as head of state, making any effort to prosecute the Russian leader impossible, the investigators said.

They added that “although we speak of strong indications, the high bar of complete and conclusive evidence is not reached” in relation to Mr Putin.

The Joint Investigation Team comprises members from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine, the countries worst affected by the crash of the doomed Boeing 777.

Piet Ploeg, who heads a foundation representing victims, said he was disappointed that the investigation had ended, but was glad prosecutors had laid out their evidence for Mr Putin's involvement.

“We can't do a lot with it, Putin can't be prosecuted, said Mr Ploeg, who lost his brother, his brother’s wife, and his nephew in the crash. “We wanted to know who was ultimately responsible and that's clear.”

All 298 passengers and crew were killed when the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was hit.

The plane's shooting scattered wreckage and bodies across Ukraine's famed sunflower fields and rural settlements.

The victims came from 10 countries, including 196 Dutch, 43 Malaysians and 38 Australians.

The crash caused global outrage and sanctions were imposed on Moscow.

In 2019, international investigators released intercepted phone calls showing what they said were links between the rebels and “high-ranking” Russian officials, including Vladislav Surkov, a top aide to Mr Putin.

MH17 Trial

A protest sign in front of a row of empty chairs lined up outside the Russian Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands on March 8, 2020 by family members of victims of the MH17 crash. Each chair represents a seat on the plane. Reuters

Munirah Mustafa, sister of MH17 flight attendant Mastura Mustafa, speaks to media in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. AP Photo

Relatives arrive at a convention centre to follow the MH17 process from a distance, in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands on March 9, 2020. EPA

Peter Langstraat, lawyer representing victims' families, talks to the media after a Dutch court opened the criminal trial against four suspects in the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, in Badhoevedorp, Netherlands on March 9, 2020. Reuters

Australian Federal Police Commander Jennifer Hurst talks to the media next to Detective Superintendent David Nelson in Badhoevedorp, Netherlands on March 9, 2020. Reuters

Toys are placed at a memorial to victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 plane crash near the village of Hrabove in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on March 9, 2020. Reuters

Presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis, other judges and the Public Prosecutor, table far left, take their seats in court for the trial of four men charged with murder over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17, at Schiphol airport, near Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday, March 9, 2020. A missile fired from territory controlled by rebels in Ukraine in 2014 tore the MH17 passenger jet apart, killing all 298 people on board. AP

Head of the National Criminal Investigations Division, Andy Kraag, speaks to the press on March 9, 2020 in Schiphol, before the opening of the trial. AFP

In this July 22, 2014 file photo, a rebel fighter touches the MH17 wreckage at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine. AP Photo

The national MH17 monument carrying the names of the victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is seen in Vijfhuizen, Netherlands on March 6, 2020. AP Photo