Who are the four men charged with shooting down flight MH17?
Vladimir Putin has blasted the move to charge three Russians for murder over the shooting down of flight MH17, which killed 298 people including 38 Australians.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected charges against Russian citizens for their alleged roles in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine five years ago.
The international team investigating the 2014 disaster announced murder charges against three Russians and one Ukrainian on Wednesday for their alleged roles in the attack, which killed all 298 people on board including 38 Australians.
Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Mr Putin said “there is no proof whatsoever” behind the charges and criticised the investigators, saying they ignored evidence provided by Russia.
He blamed Ukraine for setting the stage for the tragedy, saying they failed to close their airspace to commercial flights despite the separatist fighting in the east.
Mr Putin said Russia remained open for dialogue on the case.
International investigators have charged three Russians and one Ukrainian with murder over the 2014 shooting down of flight MH17.
Some details come from Bellingcat - an investigative journalism website - who previously identified the Russian military unit used in the attack.
The investigative team yesterday made fresh allegations, naming suspect Igor “Strelkov” Girkin among 12 other individuals is alleges were involved in the crash.
Analysing social media networks and recorded phone intercepts formed part of Bellingcat’s investigation. It also used facial recognition tools to identify separatist soldiers who were nearby on the day the plane was hit.
Here’s what you need to know about the top four suspects:
IGOR GIRKIN
Igor Girkin, 49 — also known by his pseudonym “Strelkov” — is the most high-profile suspect.
The former Russian intelligence agent with fighting experience from Chechnya to the former Yugoslavia claims to have kickstarted the war in East Ukraine as the commander of pro-Moscow fighters that captured key locations around the region.
In 2014 Girkin ruled the then rebel stronghold of Slavyansk with an iron fist, with executions for petty theft reportedly carried out under his rule.
But he was squeezed out of the separatist leadership later that year under mysterious conditions and returned to Russia, where he lost all influence and reportedly had financial difficulties.
On Wednesday he denied pro-Russian separatists were behind the missile attack.
“I can only say that rebels did not shoot down the Boeing,” he told the Interfax news agency.
A fan of historical re-enactments, he is thought to be living in Moscow.
SERGEI DUBINSKY
Sergei Dubinsky, 56, nicknamed “Khmury”, reportedly met Girkin when he fought in the First Chechen War in the mid-1990s. He is also a veteran of the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan.
At the time of the downing of the plane, Dubinsky was allegedly serving as the military intelligence chief of the separatists in eastern Ukraine.
He has also been linked to Russia’s GRU intelligence service. According to the independent Bellingcat website, Dubinsky had “requested the delivery of a battle-ready BUK missile launcher” — the type of missile investigators said downed the plane.
The website also said Dubinky was “involved in the removal of the BUK back to Russia after the downing of MH17.”
He reportedly resides in Rostov-on-Don, his native city in southern Russia near the border with Ukraine.
OLEG PULATOV
Nicknamed “Gyurza”, after a viper snake, Oleg Pulatov, 52, is a former Russian army officer.
In the summer of 2014 he was one of Dubinsky’s deputies at the heart of the separatist military leadership.
He allegedly helped transport the BUK system to Ukraine and, after the downing of the plane, helped ensure the safety of the area where the MH17 debris fell.
MORE: Russians, Ukrainian charged with shooting down MH17
MORE: Why the MH17 probe was the AFP’s toughest assignment
MORE: MH17 tragedy: Closure elusive for Aussie families
LEONID KHARCHENKO
Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko, 47, nicknamed “Krot”, was also linked to the separatist leadership when the plane was downed.
According to Bellingcat, he was involved in “securing the BUK missile launcher near the launch site.” The website also reported that Kharchenko could have co-ordinated the transport of the missile launcher from the main city in separatist eastern Ukraine, Donetsk.
According to Ukrainian media, Kharchenko is wanted by Kiev for the siege of government buildings and his role in helping the rebels.
In an interview published in 2015 by a separatist news agency, he called authorities in Kiev a “fascist regime” that is built on a “Nazi” ideology.
Ukrainian security services told AFP Wednesday that they had “no information” on Kharchenko’s whereabouts or whether he was still alive.
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