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Moscow: A significant volcanic eruption in Kamchatka, a peninsula in far-eastern Russia, has prompted the Federal Agency for Air Transport, Rosaviatsiya, to issue a strong recommendation to aircraft to evaluate their flight paths. Rosaviatsiya said that the Bezymianny volcano, one of the most active in the area and located in the eastern section of the peninsula, erupted on Friday morning with a 12,000-meter column of ash that subsequently began to drift towards the southeast.

A 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of Utah football player Aaron Lowe, Salt Lake City police announced Sunday. Buk M. Buk has been charged with aggravated murder, attempted murder and felony discharge of a firearm. Lowe, 21, was shot early on Sept. 26 at a house party in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City. A 20-year-old woman also shot in the incident remains in critical condition after undergoing extensive surgery.

The crash of flight MH17 on 17 July 2014 was caused by the detonation of a 9N314M-type warhead launched from the eastern part of Ukraine using a Buk missile system. So says the investigation report published by the Dutch Safety Board today. Moreover, it is clear that Ukraine already had sufficient reason to close the airspace over the eastern part of Ukraine as a precaution before 17 July 2014. None of the parties involved recognised the risk posed to overflying civil aircraft by the armed conflict in the eastern part of Ukraine. Download press release

MOSCOW -- As Western media broadcast somber footage from a darkened room in the Netherlands dominated by an assembly of dented, shrapnel-riddled pieces of a passenger jet shot down over Ukraine’s conflict zone last year, the pictures on Russian TV on October 13 were dramatically different. [....] On their front pages and Internet sites, Russian media moved headlines that seemed aimed at absolving Moscow of any of the blame for the downing of Malasyia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed on July 17, 2014, on territory held by Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine. “Experts Say MH17 Might Have Been Downed By...

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-made Buk missile, the Dutch Safety Board concluded on Tuesday in its final report on the crash in July 2014 that killed all 298 people on board, most of them Dutch. But the long-awaited findings of the board, which was not empowered to address questions of responsibility, did not point the finger at any group or party for launching the missile.

The Russian arms manufacturer says it has begun work on the next generation of the Buk medium-range advanced defense missile system. The V.V. Tikhomirova Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design announced on Tuesday that work has begun on the development of new versions of the Buk self-propelled medium-range surface-to-air missile system. "The management of Almaz-Antey, our parent company, has given us the task of working out a proposal for the further development of the Buk air defense missile system," Yuriy Beliy, NIIP's general director, told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. "With Almaz-Antey, we will present our proposals to the Ministry of...

A report released today by German investigative group CORRECT!V concludes that a Buk surface to air missile launcher operated by the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade shot down passenger jet MH17. The report, titled MH17: Searching for the Truth, marries fresh testimony from military experts, separatist fighters and residents of east Ukraine, with photo, video, social media and satellite evidence to produce a compelling account of the events that led to the tragic deaths of all the Malaysian Airlines flight’s 298 passengers and crew on July 17 2014.

It is the opinion of the Bellingcat MH17 investigation team that there is undeniable evidence that separatists in Ukraine were in control of a Buk missile launcher on July 17th and transported it from Donetsk to Snizhne on a transporter. The Buk missile launcher was unloaded in Snizhne approximately three hours before the downing of MH17 and was later filmed minus one missile driving through separatist-controlled Luhansk. The Bellingcat MH17 investigation team also believes the same Buk was part of a convoy travelling from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade in Kursk to near the Ukrainian border as part of a...

KYIV, July 19 /Ukrinform/. Six buses with Russian specialists servicing anti-aircraft systems of the separatists left Lugansk for Krasnodon, a Ukrinform reporter learned this from Dmytro Snehiriov, the leader of the Prava Sprava organization.

And some experts think it wasn't even 'rebels' operating it, they lack the (extensive) training required; rather, the killers were regular Russian troops... Kiev-loyalist spies reportedly filmed the launcher used in the attack being hurried to Russia - with two missiles missing (twitter) Apparently the Russians are finding it a bit more difficult to kill, lie, and cover-up in the citizen-journalist/internet era... More pics/maps/links at Reaganite Republican...

Three Buk missile systems have made their way from eastern Ukraine across the border into Russia, Ukrainian officials said Saturday, including one lacking the missile they believe brought down a Malaysia Airlines jet the day before..

Russian-made SAM has long held the respect of the world’s militaries WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The downing of a Malaysian Boeing 777 over Ukraine by suspected separatists using a Russian-made “Buk” surface-to-air missile, or SAM, is a grim reminder of a Cold War truism. Russian SAMs are some of the deadliest in the business. While the ground weapons of Russia and the predecessor Soviet Union — namely, the T-72 main battle tank and BMP-series infantry fighting vehicles — have fared particularly poorly in combat in Middle East wars against the Israelis and later against U.S. and coalition forces in the 1991...

KYIV, July 18 /Ukrinform/. Secret surveillance units of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry this morning have recorded a caterpillar tractor with the Buk missile system on it, moving via Krasnodon towards Russia, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov posted this information and a video on his Facebook page on Friday. "Uncovered missiles can be seen on the video. There are two missiles - the medium one is not visible. “The analysis of this and other information collected is underway. Presumably, this is the Buk missile system that hit yesterday a civilian plane Amsterdam - Kuala Lumpur. The criminals try to hide the traces...

“The SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) and the Interior Ministry have collected and continue to collect irrefutable evidence and proof that point to the authors of this tragedy from the terrorist organization DNR/LNR (Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republic), and their Russian, Putinist masters,” said Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. “The data we have allow us to state that the plane Boeing 777 was shot down by the Donetsk terrorists with the use of anti-missile system Buk M, which was transferred from Russia's territory”, the State Security Service said in a statement. Here is a timeline of all movements of Buks on...

Members of illegal armed units have not seized air defense launchers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donetsk, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema said. "The military told the president after the passenger plane had been shot down [in the Donetsk region] that the terrorists did not possess our Buk and S-300 missile systems. Such had not been seized," the prosecutor general told the Ukrainska Pravda online edition after the Thursday meeting of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said earlier air defense missile systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces had not been used in the...

An adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, Anton Heraschenko, has claimed that the Buk surface-to-air missile system, from which a missile could have been launched at a Malaysian plane in Donetsk region, was removed to Russia last night, and militants are planning to hand over the plane's black box flight recording equipment to "FSB curators." "According to the latest reports, international-class terrorist Strelkov, or Girkin, came to Snizhne at night to resolve the situation with the downed Malaysian Boeing. The Buk system, from which a missile was launched, was removed at night to Russia, where it will most likely be...

(CNN) -- Early speculation about the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 has centered on the possibility it could have been shot down as it passed over volatile eastern Ukraine. After all, Ukrainian officials say pro-Russia separatists, or possibly Russia, were behind the shooting down of two Ukrainian aircraft in recent days.