The Bellingcat investigative group claims it has identified 20 Russian soldiers allegedly responsible for downing flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in July 2014 and killing all 298 people on board.
A comprehensive
report by Bellingcat – including all the suspects’ names and images – was handed over
to the Dutch Public Prosecution Office two weeks ago, according to Eliot Higgins,
the organization’s founder.
Dutch
prosecutors said they will “seriously study” the allegations made by citizen journalists.
The
findings of Bellingcat’s last report, published on Oct. 8, suggested that Russia’s
53rd anti-aircraft brigade was linked to the Russian-made Buk launcher believed to have been used to down the plane. It was spotted
on July 17 in an area controlled by combined Russian-separatist forces. Bellingcat has spent a year investigating the 53rd Brigade and identified over 200 soldiers’ social media profiles to track their involvement in the Buk system’s transportation.
The Dutch Safety Board concluded in their final report the same month that the plane was shot down by a Buk system. The Netherlands has launched a criminal probe into those responsible for the catastrophe.
Despite the mounting evidence, Russian authorities deny the allegations. They “categorically disagree with the conclusions of the final report,” Oleg Storchevoi, Russia’s deputy head of the federal air transport agency, was quoted as saying in Russian media.
Higgins, however, is confident in his findings.
In e-mailed comments to the Kyiv Post, Higgins said the group had managed to boil down the
number of the soldiers responsible for the downing by narrowing down the data they had on soldiers
serving in 2014.
Bellingcat based their investigation on photos posted on the Internet and army data available online about personnel.
“Then (we focused
on) those soldiers who were part of the June 2014 convoy we identified as
containing the Buk,” Higgins said. “The 20 figure is really those individuals
who would have been part of the command structure and therefore aware of what
orders they had received relating to the MH17 Buk.”
There are also “dozens more soldiers” who were part of the June
convoy who would be valuable witnesses for the criminal investigation, according to Higgins. All
information that investigators have received was passed along to the Joint International
Criminal Investigation Team, consisting of prosecutors and police agencies of
Ukraine, Belgium, Australia and Malaysia.
Higgins
hopes that the information will add to the investigation, but he isn’t expecting Russia to offer a helpful response.
“I doubt
Russia will be keen to allow their soldiers to be interviewed, and if they do
the soldiers will be well briefed beforehand,” Higgins said.
The full
report is expected to be published by the end of the month.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]
