Netherlands Prosecutor’s Office: Only Buk Could Shoot Down Malaysian Boeing

The only reason for the crash of the MH17 aircraft, shot down over Donbass on July 17, 2014, was a missile hit from a Buk anti-aircraft missile system (SAM); no signs of the use of other weapons were found. This was stated by the Dutch prosecutor’s office, referring both to eyewitness accounts and the testimony of the accused, and to the inspection of the wreckage of a passenger aircraft.

It is expected that on December 22, the prosecutor will announce the demand for sentencing four citizens of Russia and Ukraine accused of involvement in the Boeing crash. In March 2022, the defense of Oleg Pulatov, the only one of the accused, who sent his lawyers to the hearing, will take the floor. In May, the prosecution and the lawyers of the relatives of the passengers of the downed plane will answer the arguments of the defense; in June, the defense will again join the dialogue. As for the announcement of the verdict, it will take place at the latest on December 15, 2022.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by a rocket from the ground in the sky of Donbass, all of its passengers and crew were killed. The accused in the case, which was transferred to the court in The Hague, are the citizens of the Russian Federation Igor Girkin (Strelkov), Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and the Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko. The authorities of Australia and the Netherlands, like the governments of other Western countries, consider Russia to be involved in the downing of the Boeing, while the Russian side denies all charges.