On December 21, 2021, the Dutch prosecutor’s office stated that the plane was shot down by a self-propelled firing system of the Buk complex, which was transported from Russia to Ukraine on the night of July 16-17. It was launched from a field on the territory of the DPR-controlled settlement Pervomaisky. The next night, the installation was taken back to Russia, the prosecution considered.
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The defendants in the case were former FSB colonel Igor Girkin, who was the DPR Minister of Defense in 2014, and Oleg Pulatov, deputy commander of the military intelligence of the DPR. According to the JIT, he was a member of the Russian GRU, as was DPR intelligence chief Sergei Dubinsky. Investigators believed that Ukrainian militiaman Leonid Kharchenko also participated in the operation. The prosecution decided that they did not personally participate in the launch of the rocket, and the Malaysian liner was shot down by accident.
At the same time, the Dutch prosecutor’s office accused Russia of “starting and continuing the war in eastern Ukraine” and supporting irregular military formations with weapons. Judicial hearings were stopped until March 7, then the floor will be given to the defense.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that investigators drew conclusions based on photographs from social networks, while the rocket had been on the territory of Ukraine since the days of the USSR. The projectile was at the disposal of the Ukrainian missile regiment, which participated in the operation in the Donbass.
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The Almaz-Antey Concern, which produces the Buk systems, insisted that the plane was shot down by one of the old missile modifications. They are no longer in service with the Russian army, but are used in Ukraine, the company said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the international investigation removed Moscow from full participation in the investigation. Kiev was a member of the investigation team and could “forge evidence, as well as negate the responsibility for not closing its airspace” to civil aviation, the department said.