(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The Bellingcat Investigation Team has identified the separatists linked to the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Donetsk region in 2014.
The list of separatists involved is published on thewebsiteof Bellingcat.
The first on the list is Igor Girkin (Strelkov) who identified himself as the 'minister of defense of the Donetsk People's Republic. According to the report, former FSB colonel Igor Strelkov on one of the intercepts with Sergey Dubinsky from the morning of 18 July related to the removal of the Buk missile launcher from separatist-held territory in Ukraine to Russia. Since most of the separatists who can be linked to the downing of MH17 were his subordinates, it is likely that he was also fully aware of the procurement and import of the Buk from Russia.
The second on the list is Sergey Dubinsky, who headed the 'Main Intelligence Department of the Donetsk People's Republic in 2014. This group coordinated the transport of the arriving Buk missile launcher to the launch site on 17 July. Dubinsky also ordered some of his subordinates to secure the Buk near the launch site south of Snizhne, and that it was his group that may have played a key role in the decision to shoot down MH17 under the presumption that it was an enemy aircraft.
The third on the list is Oleg Pulatov, (former) Lieutenant colonel in the Russian Armed Forces who has previously been identified as the man behind the call sign 'Gyurza who is mentioned on one of the intercepts. He was likely involved in securing the Buk missile launcher at the launch site south of Snizhne.
The fourth on the list is Leonid Kharchenko, the head of the Krot Reconnaissance Battalion of the '2nd Department of the Main Intelligence Department of the Donetsk People's Republic. According to Bellingcat, Kharchenko is found to be involved in the securing of the Buk missile launcher near the launch site south of Snizhne. He may have also coordinated the transport of the Buk from Donetsk to the launch site, and the subsequent removal of the Buk from the launch site to Russia.
The fifth on the list is Eduard Gilazov, a subordinate to Kharchenko. Gilazov has been identified as the separatist commander who, in the aftermath of the downing, brought a member of the Buk crew who had lost the rest of the crew to his commander Leonid Kharchenko in Snizhne.
The sixth on the list is Oleg Sharpov, a platoon commander within a Reconnaissance Company. Sharpov has been identified as the separatist named Oleg in an intercepted phone call with Leonid 'Krot Karchenko from 17 July 2014 at 1:09 pm. In this conversation, Sharpov asks Kharchenko about directions to the location south of Snizhne from which the Buk system launched the missile that downed MH17.
The list also includes Igor Bezler, call sign 'Bes; Sergey Povalyaev, call sign 'Botsman; Valery Stelmakh, call signs 'Naemnik, 'Naimanets and 'Batya; Igor Ukrainets, call sign 'Minyor; Aleksandr Khodakovsky, call sign 'Skif; Alexander Semyonov, nickname '(San) Sanych.
As noted, the international Joint Investigation Team will hold a press conference today to reveal the names of those involved in downing MH17.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Donbas in July 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers on board the plane. All of them died.
In September 2016, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) said it had been established on the basis of irrefutable evidence that the plane had been shot down by a 9M38 Buk missile launched from the territory controlled by pro-Russian militants in the eastern part of Ukraine. In addition, the JIT said on May 24 that the Buk missile system from which the aircraft was downed belongs to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.
In May 2018, the Netherlands and Australia officially stated that they hold the Russian state legally responsible for the downing of MH17.
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