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| Photo Reuters |
The Dutch led joint investigation team looking into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has named Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov from Russia, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko as responsible for the murder of the 298 passengers and crew on the jet.
The passenger jet was on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on 17th July 2014 when it was shot down over a Russian controlled area of Ukraine.
Igor Girkin is a former colonel in the FSB one of Russia's secret spy operations. Sergey Dubinksy was employed by Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency while Oleg Pulatov, is a former soldier with the GRU’s special forces Spetsnaz unit. All were Russian soldiers previously sent abroad. The fourth person named by the JIT is Leonid Kharchenko, is said to have led a military combat unit in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
According to the JIT, the accused did not push the button of the BUK missile themselves but were responsible for bringing the anti-aircraft system to eastern Ukraine and thus could be held criminally liable for murdering all 298 people on the Malaysian jet.
"These suspects are seen to have played an important role in the death of 298 innocent civilians", said Dutch chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke. "Although they did not push the button themselves, we suspect them of close co-operation to get the [missile launcher] where it was, with the aim to shoot down an aeroplane."
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