U.S. Officials Lay Out Case Against Russia

WSJ ^ | July 22, 2014 | Siobhan Gormon and Paul Sonne

[1rudeboy]

Washington Seeks to Counter Russian Claims About MH17 Crash

U.S. intelligence officials presented reporters with their most detailed case yet Tuesday that Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists shot down a Malaysia Airlines jetliner last week, in a bid to counter what American officials see as Russian efforts to muddy the waters with claims of Ukrainian culpability.

The officials relied on photographs, social media, and voiceprint analysis of Ukrainian communications intercepts to make their public case that a likely SA-11 antiaircraft weapon fired from separatist-controlled territory shot down the commercial airliner, killing 298 people on board.

The evidence cited, however, didn't raise the case for Russian involvement in the shoot-down to a new level of certainty. Officials said they are still working to refine evidence and may offer more in coming days.

Other U.S. officials, including some at the Pentagon, have said more assertively in recent days that Russia likely provided the missile system used by separatists to shoot down Flight 17. The more restrained presentation by intelligence officials Tuesday reflected the cautious nature of intelligence analysis.

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Locals in the rebel-held city of Torez said on Tuesday that on the day Flight 17 went down, they spotted an SA-11, or Buk, missile on a flatbed truck traveling through the town center toward the alleged launch site.

One Torez resident who works on the main road said the SA-11 was notable because he hadn't seen such a sophisticated ground-to-air missile system among the many military vehicles that had rolled through Torez since fighting began. He said what looked like the same truck later came back through town going the other way, without the missile.

[Monorprise]

I honestly don’t think its fair to say Putin has control over the individual ‘rebel’ factions. He may support them in their general cause but if he had control he would probably uses it far more effectively.

I also don’t think the Washington has a lot of good evidence in the situation. Even if Putin provided the missile which would not at all be out of character given his support of Crimean Independence. He certainly didn’t order it fired at a civilian airliner.

If the missile was provided by Russia it was almost certainly provided to the rebels to help fight off Ukrainian air assaults. I however think its more than likely, given the rebels control of Crimea that they obtained the missile on their own from the Crimea’s(formerly Ukraine) own military supply. Which would be predominately Russian anyway.

Why bother going to Russia when there is a stock pile right next door all but abandoned by the Ukrainan military. Its like the various national guard armories here, your going to find all sorts of toys if you can get into them, and you will get into them when you take over the local & regional government.

What Crimea needs is a more established government of its own, able to take control of the region and its military. It needs this mostly because those missiles and the men who fired them are needed for Crimea’s defense.