Zakharova told how Ukraine was shielded at the Dutch trial on MH17
The arbitrariness taking place in the Netherlands at the trial in the case of the crash of MH17 in the skies of Donbass leaves no doubt that Dutch prosecutors, without actually hiding it, are trying to divert any suspicions from Ukraine.
Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova spoke about this during a briefing, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Dutch prosecutor Theis Berger recently stated that a model of the missile that hit flight MH17 has allegedly been identified. This conclusion was made on the basis of a distant similarity with the shape of the I-beam of the so-called butterfly, a total of 370 fragments were found. Although the materials of the Dutch technical investigation clearly indicate that in warheads of this type such fragments make up one quarter of the total number, that is, they should have been be about a hundred. In addition, not a single I-shaped hole was found in the aircraft body, and the fragments themselves were found under dubious circumstances.
Finally, two years later, the prosecution remembered the materials presented by Russia; they prove the Ukrainian origin of the missile, which, according to the investigative team itself, hit flight MH17. Nevertheless, prosecutors undertake to assert, and they do so unfoundedly, that the Russian data, I quote: “were subjected to manipulation and adjustment,” Zakharova said.
“This is another lie, because they were offered to visit Russia, if they had forgotten, they were offered to see with their own eyes the authenticity of the forms, but the investigators somehow immediately lost interest in this topic. They themselves did not express a desire to come, and also did not send any additional requests.
In the Ukrainian reserves, of course, there was no information about where and how the missile was located all this time after the collapse of the USSR - which is understandable. I would like to ask the investigators whether this seems strange to them,” the Foreign Ministry representative noted.
According to her, in their speeches, Dutch prosecutors tried to divert any suspicions from Ukraine, saying that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ air defense systems allegedly “did not function” on the day of the tragedy. Zakharova also recalled video materials where Ukrainian officials posed against the backdrop of Bukovs deployed in the ATO zone in combat condition.
“The accusation itself directly indicates that the Buk air defense systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were located not only around, but also in close proximity to the site of the tragedy. And all this against the backdrop of allegations that it is Russia that is allegedly acting in bad faith, trying to lead the investigation into a dead end, and so on,” Zakharova was indignant.
At the same time, she noted that the investigators themselves, who are clearly confused in their testimony, do not have any questions about Ukraine and its accompanying inconsistencies.
“By the way, the issue of Kyiv’s responsibility in connection with the failure to close the airspace in the combat zone is also being ignored, which we have also talked about more than once. And, of course, it is no good that for a number of episodes considered in court, as evidence, references were made to data received directly from the SBU - clearly an interested party. However, it seems to us that it is better now to let the judges themselves evaluate the conclusions of the investigations; now is not the time, and not only now, in general, in principle, is not the time to anticipate the court’s decision,” added Maria Zakharova.
English version :: Read in English: Zakharova explained how Ukraine is being protected at the Dutch MH17 trial.