There are good reasons to believe that the decision to supply the Buk anti-aircraft missile system to the DPR militants was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This is the conclusion reached by the Joint Investigative Group (JIT), writes "Evropeyska Pravda".
The group published the results of the investigation into the persons responsible in the Russian Federation for the downing of flight MH17 by a Buk missile.
In recorded phone calls, Russian officials say the decision to provide military support rests with the president. The decision is even delayed for a week "because there is only one decision-maker..., the person who is currently at the summit in France." At this time, on June 5 and 6, 2014, President Putin was in France to celebrate the Day of the Allied landings during the Second World War.
"There is specific information that the request of the separatists was conveyed to the president and that this request was granted. It is not known whether the Buk system is mentioned in the request. A little later, heavier air defense systems appear, including the Buk. from which MH17 was shot down. Although we are talking about strong evidence, the high bar of full and convincing evidence has not been met. In addition, the president enjoys head of state immunity," the report said.
The JIT shared its findings with the next of kin of 298 victims and published a report. Although much new information has been revealed about the various individuals involved, the evidence is not yet concrete enough to lead to new prosecutions.
It will be recalled that on November 17, 2022, the District Court of The Hague sentenced Igor Girkin, Serhiy Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko to life imprisonment in absentia for their role in the downing of the Malaysian airliner MH17 over Donbas and ordered their arrest. The court ruled that they should pay more than 16 million euros in compensation to the relatives of the victims.
Meanwhile, the fourth defendant, Oleh Pulatov, was found innocent by the court, despite the fact that he was Girkin's deputy and gave instructions to the other defendants regarding the evacuation of the Buk system.
The Hague Court also recognized that Russia controlled the "DNR" during the downing of the MH17 airliner.