Russian MP says investigators' conclusions on MH17 crash 'premature'
An MP expressed hope the Joint Investigation Team will include Russia’s data in the report
DONETSK, September 30. /TASS/. Conclusions by the Joint Investigation Team that is probing into the loss of the Malaysian Airlines’ Flight MH17 over Donbass in 2014 are premature, the chief delegate of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic to the Minsk talks, Denis Pushilin, said on Friday.
"I remain curious what the JIT’s preliminary conclusions are based on. I would say that the conclusions are more than premature," the Donetsk News Agency quotes Pushilin as saying.
He believes that the voiced conclusions were not objective, because they did not include Russia’s data.
"I mean primary data from the radars that might have prompted some corrections and explained a great deal about that terrible disaster. I have many questions. Why hasn’t the Ukrainian side provided data from its radars? Why hasn’t the United States provided data, too?" he said. Pushilin hopes that the JIT will rely on confirmed facts. He recalled that the Donetsk Republic had no Buk launchers or specialists competent enough to use this complex technology.
The Joint Investigation Team consisting of officials from the Netherlands, Ukraine, Australia, Malaysia and Belgium on September 28 presented the preliminary results of a criminal investigation of the loss of Flight MH17 over Ukraine.
The JIT claimed that the plane was downed by a Buk missile brought from Russia. The missile, they argue, was launched from the village of Pervomaiskoye, south of Snezhnoye, which was under the control of Donetsk militias on the day of the disaster. The JIT said it had no time to study Russian data that refute that version.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said the objectivity of JIT statements is doubtful.
"All data presented by the JIT at the news briefing came from two sources: the Internet and Ukrainian secret services. The objectivity of these data, and, consequently, of the conclusions made on their basis, cannot but arouse doubts," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. He also stated that Russian air defense launchers had never crossed the Ukrainian border.
A Boeing-777 of the Malaysian Airlines (Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur) was lost in the sky over the east of the Donetsk Region on July 17, 2014. All 283 passengers and 15 crew - citizens of ten countries - died in the disaster.