How Dutch Investigators Rebuffed Russia’s Alternative MH17 Theories

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) ^ | October 13, 2015 | Mike Eckel and Carl Schreck

[WhiskeyX]

Dutch investigators repeatedly rebuffed Russian efforts to insert alternative theories into an authoritative report about the July 2014 downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane over eastern Ukraine, according to documents released along with the anxiously awaited report on October 13.

Appendices published (here and here) with the Dutch Safety Board’s report show that Russia attempted to convince investigators to invoke "other scenarios," such as the possibility that Flight MH17 was struck by an air-to-air missile.

Critics have accused Moscow of floating the air-to-air-missile and other theories in order to deflect attention from substantial evidence indicating the Boeing 777 was downed by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile system known as a Buk, fired from an area controlled by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

But the documents released with the report show that, behind the scenes, the Dutch Safety Board also rejected alternative scenarios proposed by Russia as essentially baseless before concluding that a Buk missile exploded next to the Boeing 777 and sent it crashing to the ground, killing all 298 people on board.

With arcane discussions of physics, telemetry, and military technology, the conclusions of the 15-month investigation largely match up with theories put forth by Ukraine, the United States, and other nations.

Here is a snapshot of some of the back-and-forth between Russia and the Dutch investigators, who appear to have met with Russian officials and technicians on several occasions to gather evidence and hear arguments.