Moscow accuses Kiev of manipulating Malaysian MH17 crash investigation

MOSCOW - Ukraine is hiding vital data on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash and is manipulating the investigation of the 2014 catastrophe, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.

A screen shows the specifications of the "Orlan-10" unmanned aerial vehicle (L) and the "Buk" missile system during a news conference, dedicated to the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane operating flight MH17, in Moscow, Russia, September 26, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

"It is no coincidence that the Ukrainian side conceals from investigators, relatives of the people killed and the world community the information that would help provide a comprehensive picture of the air crash," the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters.

A Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014 while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, most of them Dutch citizens.

Western investigators and Kiev have been claiming that pro-independence insurgents in eastern Ukraine shot down the aircraft, while Moscow has been denying the allegations and retorting that the plane had been shot by a missile from the territory controlled by Ukrainian government troops.

The ministry has also refuted conclusions contained in the Dutch Safety Board report about possible presence of heavy air defense systems in Eastern Ukraine, which were not controlled by Ukrainian government forces.

Andrei Koban, head of the Russian Radio-Technical Troops, said at the briefing that available electronic intelligence data showed Ukrainian radars operating in the area of the disaster, which should have monitored the flight.

According to the official, Ukraine's attempts to hide vital data about the incident could be aimed at covering the launch of the missile which hit the plane from the territory controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Russian radars have not registered any missiles shot from the region controlled by the insurgents, Koban said.
Konashenkov said that Moscow intended to provide the Dutch investigators with "objective and irrefutable" data, which would help them to "determine the true causes of the crash."