The Russkies have fired upon airlines twice before, both times knowingly, although they made excuses later and hid evidence. One does not need to understand the motivations of animals. One merely needs to know that they are animals.
Yes they did. However the sticking point with both were these craft flying unwittingly into Soviet airspace. One that didnt respond to Soviet calls, and thankfully was able to land after being hit. The other was not the act of some stupid fighter pilot, but orders from the ground after clearly being informed by that pilot that this was not a military craft.
Both of those took place over 30 years ago. Hardly a habit of animals that get their kicks from shooting down planes for sport.
This incident was neither of those, and was one of many planes that are in and around the area. So beyond easy claims that Russians love to shoot down planes, what would be the reason to pluck a random airliner out of the sky?