I must admit that the article by Michael Falzon (‘Tragedy born of recklessness’, The Sunday Times of Malta, August 3) in response to my letter in Times of Malta related to the downing of the Malaysian Airlines plane left me quite perplexed.
Trying to challenge my argument, the author, just like many before him, failed to provide any factual evidence in support of widely circulated accusations of Russia while resorting in his reasoning to phrases like “there is no doubt” or “American intelligence reported”.
This compels me to bring to your readers’ attention some facts that most Western media outlets opt not to notice and continue putting the blame on Russia for all the evil in the world.
Our country has done as much as it could and is ready to take additional steps to assist in the ongoing investigation of the MH17 tragedy. We have already offered to send our experts to the crash site and have passed military monitoring data pertaining to this disaster to international organisations, including the UN and the OSCE.
On July 21 the Russian Ministry of Defence held a special briefing where it released clear evidence, supported by satellite images, showing that a Ukrainian fighter jet was in close proximity to MH17 before the crash.
It was also revealed that there had been a build-up of air-defence systems of Ukrainian forces in the first half of July (which included Buk anti-aircraft missile systems) and an increase in their activity in the area.
Moreover, analysis by independent experts showed a lot of inconsistencies in the recording of phone exchanges between members of the self-defence forces allegedly intercepted by the Ukrainian Security Service, which indicated that this ‘evidence’ can be nothing but a fabrication. This deliberate fake was so blatantly crafted that its ‘authors’ did not even bother to delete time markers pointing that the recording had been compiled before July 17 from several different sources.
What is needed now is an unbiased and independent investigation into the accident, which would be based solely upon facts
Unfortunately, questions put forward by the Russian side in order to shed light on the circumstances of the tragedy remain unanswered to this day. What were the reasons behind the decision of the Ukrainian authorities to keep open the airspace over the combat zone despite clear regulations by ICAO? Who is behind the forced diversion of the plane from its regular flight path?
How can the Ukrainian side explain numerous flights of its fighter jets in the vicinity of the crash site on the day of the tragedy? And why have the recordings of conversations between Ukrainian air traffic controllers and the MH17 crew, currently in possession of the Ukrainian Security Service, not been released?
It should also be mentioned that on July 11, President Vladimir Putin invited OSCE observers to visit without delay two checkpoints on the Russia-Ukraine border in order to dispel the suspicion that they are used for a massive transfer of armaments and armed personnel from the Russian territory.
But before the observers actually went there, at least two weeks had been lost in useless discussions in the OSCE, where US and UK diplomats jointly with their Ukrainian colleagues attempted to prevent this Russian invitation from being accepted.
In another move smacking of double standards, EU leaders have recently ‘quietly’ agreed, against their own rules, to lift restrictions on supplies to Kiev of military technology and equipment, despite the continuing armed clashes in eastern Ukraine which have already claimed hundreds of lives of civilians, including women and children.
These restrictions were introduced by the EU in February when President Viktor Yanukovych was still in power and were aimed against the use of such equipment for ‘internal repressions’. Since then, the scale of internal repressions, which is what Kiev’s war against its own people who disagree with its policy is all about, has not diminished but has grown into a humanitarian crisis.
The only thing I can agree on with Falzon is that the downing of MH17 is a real tragedy. Dishonourable attempts to use this disaster for purely political ends are in the least an insult to the memory of those who lost their lives. What is needed now is an unbiased and independent investigation into the accident, which would be based solely upon facts.
An honest and open participation of all those who have specific evidence related to the July 17 disaster is the only way ahead. Anything else will amount to politically motivated attempts to affect the investigation and prejudge its results.
Boris Marchuk is the Ambassador of Russia.