Fresh proof of Ukraine downing flight MH17: Russia

IANS  |  Moscow 

on Monday claimed it had proof was behind the 2014 downing of a passenger aircraft that claimed the lives of all 298 people on board.

"We have an audio recording of of Ukrainian servicemen made in 2016," Konashenkov was cited as saying by news.

"An analysis of its content confirms earlier made conclusions about the direct involvement of the Ukrainian side in the crash of the Malaysian "

The Joint Investigation Team, made up of experts from the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine, and Malaysia, previously confirmed that the anti-aircraft Buk missile system that brought down the passenger jet belonged to the Russian armed forces.

Investigators found the system was brought to from the western Russian city of about one month before the plane was downed.

According to the Russian military, the missile that brought down the aircraft when it was flying over pro-Russian rebel-held territory in East was delivered to the by back in 1986 and went into service in 2014 as part of Ukraine's 223rd anti-aircraft regiment.

of the at the Nikolai Parshin said the missile "never returned" to Russian territory after the collapse of the USSR, and remained in the hands of the

The JIT concluded that the Buk rocket was fired from a field in Pervomaiskyi, eastern Ukraine, which at the time was in the hands of pro-Russian rebels.

All 298 people, among them 196 Dutch, were travelling on board Airlines flight MH17 between and when it was brought down by an air-to-surface missile fired from in July 2014.

The and accused of having brought down the plane, that it has categorically denied.

--IANS

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First Published: Mon, September 17 2018. 20:42 IST