Posted on 07/17/2014 1:51:45 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
MOSCOW, Russia — A Malaysian Boeing 777 airliner carrying 295 people on board was shot down by a surface to air missile outside the mining town of Shakhtersk in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, an area controlled by rebels. Ukrainian, Russian and pro-Russian rebel officials all confirmed that a missile had taken down the plane. It fell from a height of over 10,600 meters; everybody on board, including dozens of children and 15 members of the crew, died in the catastrophe.
Pieces of the plane, human remains, passports, and money were spread in a radius of 15 kilometers around the catastrophe in the region of Grabovo and Rassypnaya, experts of Russian ministry of emergency affairs (MCHS) and witnesses reported. During the first few hours of the rescue operation, rebel militia discovered remains of over 100 people. There were no Russian citizens among the victims. The “black box” from the airplane traveled to Moscow “for investigation” Russian radio Kommersant FM reported.
Who hit the Malaysian airplane that was flying so high over Ukraine? All sides agreed that it was brought down by a Buk antiaircraft missile, also known as a SA-17 Grizzly in NATO terminology.
“All three sides of the conflict, Russian, pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces have Buk systems,” Moscow-based military expert Alexander Golts told The Daily Beast in an interview. “The Ukrainian army could shoot at the plane thinking it was Russian intelligence flying over their territory, pro-Russian rebels could bring down a plane, as they have done previously several times, including a Ukrainian cargo plane they shot down at over 6,000 meters above the ground.”
Golts also noted that according to Interfax reports pro-Russian rebels recently took control of military base 24-02 in Donetsk. “That base had Buk missiles systems; if they saw a plane on radars, they could very well fire at it but of course one needs to know how to operate Buks,” Golts added.
Earlier on Wednesday the defense minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Donetsk, Igor Strelkov, published a post on Facebook that he later deleted: “Just now An-26 airplane was shot down outside Terez—we have warned them about ‘our sky.’”
Russian human rights activist Alexander Cherkasov saved the screenshot of the post and provided it to The Daily Beast: Accounts given by rebel commanders were full of contradictions.
Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the Donetsk Republic, denied having a single Buk, and added “unfortunately.” The rebel official insisted on radio Kommersant FM that the Malaysian plane was “brought down by Ukrainian missile systems.” He said, “Preliminary investigation showed that the airliner had been shot down—it is obvious. The plane crashed practically on the front line, you need to understand that. We only have artillery that can hit a target at 2500 meters.”
The pro-Russian separatists and their allies inside Russia have become indiscriminate with some of their heavy weapons. Earlier this week, residents of a Russian town of Gukovo took videos of several Grad rocket systems launching constant fire from a place that looked to a local eye like Stepnaya mine in Rostov region in the direction of Biryukovo village, across the Ukrainian boarder. Ukrainian border unit commanders also claimed they had been fired on by a Grad in Biryukovo and Sverdlovsk in the Luhansk region.
A Grad is a multiple rocket launcher designed to devastate a defined but extensive area. Is it becoming the weapon of tomorrow in Ukraine? Russia’s official position is still to deny any involvement in military actions eastern regions of Ukraine. If a Grad was used yesterday, what sort of weapon would they use tomorrow, many Ukrainians wondered.
“Our official version is that it was a Ukrainian Grad; Russia’s intention is to push Ukraine to peace talks as soon as possible and to establish an independent federal region, Novorossia, that would include one third of Ukraine,” the Kremlin’s expert Sergei Markov said in an interview with The Daily Beast.
No worries. The Russians will get right to the bottom of this. I have complete faith.
The black box is about to enter a black hole...
I’m guessing Russia with treat that black box with about as much care as the IRS treated Lois Lerner’s emails. Obama will be punked again.
Is this like sending Lerner’s e-mails to the White Hut for safe keeping?
Monsterous crime. No excuse for it.
Really isn’t going tell them much. We already know the what when and where of the incident.
What we don’t know is the who and why and the black box would have no information in it telling us those two things.
Hey, come on. That was really uncalled for. Moscow is just as honest and trustworthy as Washington DC.
Of course the findings will be that the EU,Kiev and,most importantly,the US sabotaged to the aircraft.
They will throw it down the hell mouth that just opened up in Siberia. Or they could go the IRS route and claim the Black Box conveniently crashed.
That would be like sending Lois Lerner’s crashed hard drive to Harry (the-border-is-secure) Ried.
The US needs to ban Aeroflot and Malaysian Airlines from US airports and airspace.
Error or not it was a crime.
Maybe they’ll say it was the center fuel tank exploded. That would come in handy as an excuse.
Putin will use his Super Bowl ring the break open the black box and replace the contents with a looped recording of “Farewell of Slavianka” . Hilarity will ensue.
Noboby is likely to claim “credit” for the downing.
“It belongs in a museum!” < /Indiana Jones >
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.