Russia fires up MH17 conspiracy on eve of final report into crash

Moscow fires up a conspiracy theory into the MH17 crash to deflect blame on the eve of the final report.

Ukrainian rescue servicemen inspect the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 20, 2014 in Rassipnoye, Ukraine.

Moscow defence officials have insisted that the Buk missile that destroyed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 killing all 298 people on board was not fired by Russians or from an area of Ukraine territory held by Russian-backed separatists.

The Russians have defiantly outlined their contrary position just two days before the joint investigative team, led by the Dutch and supported by Australia, hands down its final findings as to how the commercial airliner was shot from the sky over the war zone in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. Thirty eight Australians lost their lives in the disaster.

The international team is expected to detail how a Russian Buk missile was fired from the town of Schnizhe, held at the time by pro-Russian separatists with evidence from locals, on the ground analysis and contemporaneous blog and social media posts.

But last night the Russian Ministry of Defence presented radar data detected by a Russian station which they claim shows nothing was detected flying from the east in the vicinity of the aircraft. Instead, they claim that the Ukrainians are hiding radar data which may show the missile attacking the doomed flight from Ukrainian held territory to the south or west.

Major General Andrei Kogan told a Moscow press conference that air traffic control monitoring data from a Russian radar station tracked MH17 along its international flight route as well as an unmanned drone located just above the Eastern border of Russia and Ukraine.

“In eight minutes we clearly see the catastrophe unfold,’’ he said, pointing to various radar blips that indicate fragments of the plane.

‘’The Boeing is crashing, we see a lot of fragments on the map according to radar information. “But there are no aerial objects which approach the aircraft from the east including from Schnizhe village. If any missile had been launched at the Boeing to the east of the crash site it would have shown on the radar data. We need to point out the Russia radar station doesn’t allow us to see if anything is flown (towards the aircraft) from the south or the west.’’

Russia used its veto to block a UN Security Council hearing into the causes of the crash. However Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has vowed to bring the perpetrators to account.