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INVESTIGATORS PROBING THE 2014 downing of flight MH17 said today for the first time that the missile which brought down the plane over eastern Ukraine came from a Russian military brigade.
The Joint Investigation Team “has come to the conclusion that the BUK-TELAR that shot down MH17 came from 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk in Russia,” top Dutch investigator Wilbert Paulissen said.
“The 53rd Brigade forms part of the Russian armed forces,” he told reporters at a press conference in the Netherlands.
The Malaysian Airlines flight was blown out of the sky over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014 while en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
All 298 passengers and crew, most of them Dutch, were killed in the disaster. But there were 17 nationalities on board including Australians, Britons, Malaysians and Indonesians.
The investigators had previously concluded that the plane was hit by a Russian-made BUK missile system brought in from Russia and fired from territory in Ukraine held by Moscow-backed rebels. But they have stopped short of directly saying who pulled the trigger.
Now the team has painstakingly recreated the route taken by the missile convoy from Kursk towards the border into Ukraine using videos and photos.
Paulissen said the team had “ascertained that the BUK-TELAR has a number of unique characteristics. These characteristics as such served as a type of fingerprint for the missile.”
“We are convinced that our findings justify the conclusions that the BUK-TELAR which was used came from the 53rd Brigade which is part of the military of the Russian Federation,” he added.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the downing of the Boeing 777 flight, putting the blame instead on Kiev.
The probe being led by the Netherlands is focusing on some 100 people suspected of having played an “active role” in the incident, but investigators have not yet publicly named any suspects.
They have identified two people, who go by the aliases Orion and Delfin, as top suspects after obtaining their wire-tapped conversations before and after the plane was shot out of the sky.
Chief investigator Fred Westerbeke said Thursday the probe was now in its “last phase” but added there was “still work to be done”.
Over the past years “we’ve gained a lot of proof and evidence but we are not ready yet” to move towards bringing charges, he told the press conference.
‘Important piece of the puzzle’
Dutch officials have announced any suspects arrested in the shooting down of flight MH17 will be tried in the Netherlands under an agreement reached with the countries leading the joint probe.
Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok, who recently held talks in Moscow about MH17, said Thursday’s revelations were “an important piece of the puzzle.”
The team’s “serious conclusions” meant “we now have more clarity with respect to the downing of MH17, in particular for the next of kin,” Blok added.
Families of the victims meanwhile have penned an open letter to “the Russian people” speaking of their continued grief and heartache, even as Russia prepares to host the football World Cup.
“We appeal again for the Russian government to cooperate fully with the international investigation into MH17,” they said in the letter published in the Novaya Gazeta.
“It will not bring our families back, but the truth does matter, the truth does exist and we want those responsible for MH17 to be identified and held accountable.”
They also took issue with the “vile and deceitful campaign” by the Russian media saying it was “misinformation intended to distract and confuse, to create an alternative reality.”
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Not a word in the article to say why the bakery is “historic”. Did oul Mr. Brennan make his first sliced pan there or something? Old doesn’t automatically mean historic.
@John Considine: Bread White bread!!!!!! Historical…… or maybe Dev’s Cousin’s friend walked passed there and seen his reflection in the windows. Who knows. They tell us nothing unless it’s got something in it for them.
@John Considine: it’s a Charles Herbert Ashworth building.
@John Considine: Kennedys bread fed us all for years, loved the crusty outer slices. Ate them on the way home from the shops!
Will the pillar stones at the gateways be kept in place, to preserve the history of the horse drawn carts, that wore away the entrances?
The councillors are great. “Don’t build that type of development “ “ don’t build over four floors” pathetic !
@Shane Murphy: this is a seven-story development.
Obviously plenty of ‘ bread’ involved and to be made there.. the perfect cover…
It is ashame government can’t purchase these buildings, redevelop them into student accommodation and then rent them out at affordable prices, all the while ensuring the tax payer a small return or break even on the cost. This will be another student accommodation for the wealthy foreign students.
@Charles McGuire: And owned & managed from some off shore corporation to avoid local taxation.
All rented housing needs to be state controlled at affordable rents, to moderate the cost of purchase housing. The State must operate on behalf of its people, not on behalf of the market, which is manipulated for profit, mainly by offshore tax avoidance schemes.
This is more likely going to be filled by international students who can afford to pay the high rent, not Irish students. Again, another reason for people to land in to Dublin and stretch the rental sector even further. Those living in the country already and paying rent are being completely ignored by the government which pursues a growth at all costs philosophy.
Enough is enough main party’s hand there arses in euro an locals. Won’t be long before a split when spice boy is shown the door
@Tommy D: and in English that means….
What exactly?
Makes sense as we look to profit from a targeting of foreign students, expect fees to jump in the coming years too. Money to be made lads!
Very hard to find a decent loaf of bread these days.
All frozen or possessed cardboard these days.
Oversupply will mean reduced rents or empty buildings !
Sad to read Ireland suffering the same student housing blight as many University towns in England. In the UK’s case it was a tax dodge introduced by George Osborne that did it. There are Student building firms on top of this who are registered overseas for tax purposes too, so it’s lose-lose all round. All the while, (empty) shop doorways are filled with the homeless. The possibility of even a place to rent just a dream.
About time!!!This type of student housing works all over the world. Perfect for first-year students. And will free up a lot of housing in all college towns and cities.
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