{"id":750,"date":"2025-07-17T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/?p=750"},"modified":"2025-07-17T12:29:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T12:29:49","slug":"putin-ultimately-to-blame-for-mh17-crash-killing-298-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/17\/putin-ultimately-to-blame-for-mh17-crash-killing-298-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin \u2018ultimately to blame\u2019 for MH17 crash killing 298 people"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Vladimir Putin masterminded the shadowy Russian military aggression that ultimately led to the downing of MH17 over separatist-held Ukraine (Picture: EPA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vladimir Putin<\/a> ultimately bears responsibility for the downing of MH17 by Russian proxy forces over eastern Ukraine<\/a> 11 years ago, a leading investigative journalist has said.  <\/p>\n

Eliot Higgins spoke on the anniversary of the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet with the loss of all 298 people onboard, including 10 British citizens.  <\/a><\/p>\n

The crime<\/a> was one of the grim milestones in a pattern of hybrid military aggression that tested the West\u2019s resolve and ultimately resulted in the all-out attack on Ukraine.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Among those being remembered today is Richard Mayne, <\/a>20, a student who was on his way to Australia<\/a> to begin studying as part of his University of Leeds course.  <\/p>\n

Russians Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian pro-Moscow separatist Leonid Kharchenko were handed life sentences over the atrocity by the District Court of the Hague but remain at large because Russia refuses to surrender them.    <\/p>\n

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Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a><\/strong> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> <\/strong>alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Higgins, who founded Bellingcat<\/a>, was among the open-source investigators who unravelled the circumstances of the tragedy amid a fog of disinformation emerging from Russia.  <\/p>\n

He told Metro<\/strong>: \u2018Dubinsky and Kharchenko have been pretty quiet in the last few years, unlike Girkin. <\/p>\n

‘Girkin posted a lot of statements online that criticised Russia’s military performance in Ukraine following the 2022 invasion<\/a>, which resulted in him being imprisoned for four years in 2024 by the Russian government on extremism charges.  <\/p>\n

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The wreckage of flight MH17 is reconstructed inside a hangar as part of a Dutch investigation into the tragedy (Passion Docs Ltd\/Vivien Jones)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I suspect he would have had an easier time in a Dutch prison. <\/p>\n

\u2018As for the responsibility of Putin and the Kremlin, it’s clear that Putin allowed the transfer of heavy weapon systems from Russia into Ukraine, so while there’s nothing to indicate he ordered MH17 to be shot down, he does bear responsibility for allowing those weapons to be sent to Eastern Ukraine along with Russian soldiers, both in terms of the attack on MH17, and the broader loss of life in the conflict.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Richard\u2019s dad Simon has spoken of the day he waved his son off at Birmingham Airport<\/a> in what would be the last time they saw each other.  <\/p>\n

His son, heading for a year studying in Australia, was due to fly to Amsterdam to catch MH17 onwards to Kuala Lumpur. But as the Boeing 777 travelled over the breakaway Donbas region of eastern Ukraine it was struck by a ground-to-air missile fired by separatists.  <\/p>\n

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Richard Mayne had a promising life that was cut short after he boarded MH17 en route to Australia (Picture: Tim Stewart News\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Hague-decreed act of murder on July 17, 2014, also claimed the life of Loughborough University student Ben Pocock, 20, from Bristol.  <\/p>\n

Aside from the UK victims, 196 were Dutch with many from other countries, including 43 from Malaysia and 38 from Australia. <\/p>\n

Eighty were children.  <\/p>\n

Bodies and wreckage landed in fields of sunflowers \u2014 which have become a symbol of the tragedy \u2014 near Hrabove in the area seized by the rebels.  <\/p>\n

Bellingcat gathered a plethora of time-stamped evidence, including photographs and videos, to show that a Buk missile launcher was transported through the so-called Donetsk People\u2019s Republic (DPR) on the day before the jet was shot down.  <\/p>\n

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