11th anniversary of the MH17 disaster: what is known about the Russian terrorist attack

Today, July 17, 2024, marks 11 years since the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Boeing-777 in the sky over Donetsk region by pro-Russian militants. The tragedy, which claimed the lives of 298 people, continues to resonate with pain in the hearts of their families and the whole world. UNN tells the chronology of events, what consequences for Russia, and who will be punished. 

Chronology of the MH17 disaster

Starting in mid-April 2014, hostilities began in Donbas. Pro-Russian forces already on May 2, 2014, used portable anti-aircraft missile systems to shoot down two Mi-24 army aviation helicopters of Ukraine near Sloviansk, as well as an Il-76 aircraft in June, which was landing at Luhansk airport. 

Because of this, in July, Ukraine closed the airspace over the conflict zone for civil aviation up to an altitude of 7900 m, but due to the downing of an An-26 transport aircraft, Ukraine further raised the airspace closure limit with NOTAM A1492/14, raising the restriction to 9750 m. 

On July 17, 2014, flight MH17 was performing a regular flight from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); it departed from Amsterdam at 13:30 Kyiv time and was heading to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, communication with the aircraft was lost around 4 p.m. There were 298 people on board, all of them died.

The plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile launched by Russian militants from the occupied territories of Donetsk region using a self-propelled Buk M1 anti-aircraft missile system, delivered there by Russia. 

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Russia's attempts to deny its involvement

On the day of the plane's downing, militant leader Igor Girkin stated on the social network "VKontakte" that an An-26 plane had been shot down in the Torez area. 

"In the Torez area, an An-26 plane was just shot down, lying somewhere behind the Progress mine. We warned you - don't fly in "our sky". And here is video confirmation of another "birdfall". The bird fell behind the spoil heap, did not hit the residential sector. Civilians were not harmed. And there is also information about a second downed plane, supposedly a Su," Girkin wrote then. 

Later, after it turned out to be an international passenger airliner, the "DPR" abruptly refused to take responsibility for the tragedy. However, the video of the Boeing-777 crash on the Russian TV channel LifeNews was initially presented as a video of the "fall of a Ukrainian An-26 shot down by the militia," as Girkin wrote.

After that, the TV channel's story was deleted, and an hour later, the news reported that the plane was likely shot down by the Ukrainian air defense system.

Russian propaganda TV channels Russia Today and LifeNews accused Ukraine of shooting down the plane, voicing the version that the motive for the downing could have been an assassination attempt on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and that Putin's plane and the Malaysian Boeing 777 allegedly intersected at the same point in the same echelon.

Members of the terrorist group at the crash site

On the evening of the same day, Russian media, citing a "competent source," threw in information that Ukraine had transferred "Buks" to the ATO zone that day. 

"According to objective control system data, on Wednesday, a division of "Buks" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was redeployed to the Donetsk region. Now another division of the same weapon is being loaded in Kharkiv," the propagandists wrote. 

At the same time, the Security Service of Ukraine intercepted the terrorists' negotiations about the passenger plane they shot down. 

According to the recording, at 16:40, terrorist Igor Bezler (Bes) reported the downed plane to his curator, Colonel of the GRU General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Geranin Vasily Nikolaevich.

"Just shot down a plane. Miner's group. Fell behind Yenakiyevo," Bes said.

The SBU notes that after examining the plane, the terrorists concluded that they had shot down a passenger plane. This follows from the recording of the phone conversation between terrorists "Major" and "Greek".

Thus, during the conversation, "Major" noted that the plane was shot down by "Chornukhinsky": "From the Chornukhinsky checkpoint. Cossacks standing at Chornukhine." According to him, the plane disintegrated in the air, in the area of the Petropavlivska mine, and its fragments fell directly into the yards. After some time, he clarified: "In short, it's definitely a civilian board."

International investigation of the tragedy

According to the results of investigations conducted during July-September 2014, it was found that the cause of the plane crash was its damage by a 9N314M warhead of a 9M38 series surface-to-air missile, which equips Buk anti-aircraft missile systems, detonated at a distance of about one meter from the front left upper part of the aircraft fuselage at 13:20:03 at an altitude of 10.1 km, and launched from the territory occupied by pro-Russian militants southeast of Torez. 

In 2018, the Joint Investigation Team for the MH17 crash determined that the plane was shot down by a self-propelled Buk unit belonging to the 53rd brigade from the city of Kursk. In June 2019, investigators named four suspects involved in the MH17 disaster. The suspects are three Russian citizens and one Ukrainian: Igor Girkin (Strelkov), Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov, and Leonid Kharchenko, who are accused of involvement in the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

The MH17 trial in the District Court of The Hague began on March 9, 2020.

On November 17, the Court in the Netherlands announced its verdict in the case of the downing of Malaysia Airlines passenger plane Boeing flight MH17 in the sky over Donbas in July 2014. Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky, and Leonid Kharchenko were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment.

At the same time, the court acquitted Oleg Pulatov, finding no evidence of his involvement in the disaster.

The three accused must also compensate the victims' relatives for damages, amounting to more than 16 million euros.

In February 2023, the Joint Investigation Team for the first time released an intercepted phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the so-called head of the "LPR" Igor Plotnitsky in 2017. According to investigators, the conversation is proof that the dictator personally gave instructions on providing heavy weapons to pro-Russian militants.

Court decisions in the MH17 case

In July, judges of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg issued decisions on four cases brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia, covering a wide range of alleged human rights violations since the beginning of the conflict, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. 

The ECHR established that the downing of flight MH17 occurred on territory that was under the effective control of Russian occupation administrations, and therefore the events fall under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.

On January 25, 2023, the ECHR declared the case partially admissible and proceeded to consider the merits. Given the scale of the violations, 26 states and a number of international organizations joined the case as third parties.

Consequences for Russia after court decisions

Margarita Sokorenko, the Commissioner for European Court of Human Rights Affairs, stated that Ukraine plans to use the European Court of Human Rights' decision regarding Russia's human rights violations in Ukraine as a basis for further diplomatic and sanctions steps against Russia.

In addition, the ECHR decision will become the basis for the work of the Special Tribunal on the crime of aggression.