It was apparently shot down by a Buk SAM system. Both the Ukraine and the Russians have these, not sure about the separatists, but it’s certainly plausible.
The plane was traveling west-to-east, so I doubt the Russian army would mistake it for a military transport, their radar had plenty of time to pick it up and ID it. That leaves the separatists and the Ukranians as possible perps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buk_missile_system
Wait... west-to-east! It didn’t enter Russian airspace yet, got it backwards!
Out of curiosity, how is it apparent the plane was shot down by that particular (Buk SAM) missile?
So, what you’re saying is, “they were bucked from the git go.”
They claimed to have captured a BUK in June. They tweeted their victory. Whoops.
I agree it was probably not Russian regulars. But when you put crazy militias in the field, you can get crazy results. I think this is on Putin.