Investigators in the MH17 case asked residents of Kursk to share any information about the downed Boeing

Joint Investigation Team (JIT) for the crash of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 sent out letters to residents of Kursk asking them to share any information they have about who took part in the operation. A Buk air defense missile system was sent from Kursk, which, according to investigators, shot down this plane.

The JIT also issued a call for witnesses asking for any relevant photo or video footage that could enhance understanding of how the tragedy happened.

In July 2021 the Dutch migration service refused grant asylum to two Russian citizens who transmitted confidential information about the crash of the Malaysian Boeing in 2014. In 2014, Elena and her partner Igor (names have been changed) accidentally learned important details of the plane crash over the territory of Donbass. After that, threats began to arrive, so the couple left for the Netherlands. But it wasn’t until 2018 that a woman told the Dutch police about it.

JIT took the information provided by Elena seriously. However, the migration service called the story is implausible, considering it strange that the couple did not tell about it immediately upon arrival in the Netherlands. The country’s government has decided to deport the Russians.

On July 17, 2014, the day of the plane crash, Elena at the end of the working day came to Igor’s office located in one of the Russian cities. There, a woman accidentally overheard her boss calling his relative, who was on the territory of Ukraine and occupied a “leading position in the headquarters” of pro-Russian militants fighting under the flags of the DPR and LPR. During the conversation, the chief discussed the shot down plane with his interlocutor, not hiding his joy. Then the caller left the office and told Elena himself that the militiamen had managed to shoot down the plane with a Buk missile. On the same evening, Elena and Igor learned from the news that an airliner was shot down in the sky of Donbass, with almost three hundred people on board.

The next day, the head of the company told Elena that she should not tell anyone about the phone call. Later, the woman found out that Igor’s company was working as a cover for Russian fighters fighting in Ukraine. According to her, a stack of counterfeit Ukrainian passports was regularly delivered to the firm. These documents were used to cross the border.

In the summer of 2015, Elena managed to get a job at this company. There she made copies of several forged passports. At the same time, Igor had a conflict at work due to the fact that the company did not return the debt to him. The man told the management that Elena was aware of the fake passports of the neighboring state. After that, according to a Dutch newspaper, FSB officers began to threaten the Russians, and they decided to leave the country.

According to Elena, she did not tell the Dutch authorities about this for two years, because she was worried about the safety of her relatives in Russia.

A Malaysian Airlines Boeing passenger plane flying MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17, 2014 in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The disaster killed all 298 people on board – citizens of ten countries. A Joint Investigation Team was established for the criminal investigation. It includes representatives from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine. Russia, on the other hand, did not enter it, since from the very beginning there were suspicions that units of the Russian army, which used the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, were involved in the destruction of the liner.

In June 2019, it was announced that the investigation team had identified four suspects of involvement in the tragedy – the former Defense Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and retired FSB Colonel Igor Strelkov-Girkin, his deputy, reconnaissance group commander and Major General Sergei Dubinsky with call sign “Khmury”, his deputy colonel Oleg Pulatov. The fourth defendant was the field commander and citizen of Ukraine Leonid Kharchenko.

In mid-November 2019, the International Investigation Team published telephone interceptions, from which it follows that Russia completely controlled the process of invasion of the territory of Ukraine by pro-Russian armed formations fighting under the flags of the DPR and LPR, and the militia were sent weapons through the channels of the FSB and the GRU.

Moscow has repeatedly denied its involvement in the plane crash.