SA-11?
That’s some mighty interesting hardware to be in the hands of a rebel.
My guess is that the Russians are operating a no-fly zone with Russian SAM batteries in parts of Eastern Ukraine, manned by Russian regulars, but not networking them in with the full suite of eyes and ears so they can maintain plausible deniability. That way, foreign intel can't pin down, via signal intercepts, the fact that Russian troops are fighting an illegal war in Ukraine. The problem with not giving SAM operators all of the info they need is this - they shoot down things they shouldn't, like the MH17.
I think the Ukranians have about sixty of them. From what I’ve read these systems are about as tough to run as a Nintendo 64 ‘Battletanx’ missiles.
As George Orwell wrote, one of the first casualties of war is truth.
With Obamagumbe, his minions, our alphabet MSMs and the Guardian and other gems like these saying one thing, I’m not jumping on any bandwagon until I see some hard evidence.