Probe into downing of Flight MH17 ends despite ‘indications’ Putin was involved

International prosecutors say they have found “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the use of the Russian missile system that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

However, they said the evidence of the involvement of Putin and other Russian officials is not concrete enough to lead to a criminal conviction, and they will end the investigation without further prosecutions.

Russia has denied involvement in the downing of the civilian plane, which killed 298 passengers and crew.

“The investigation has now reached its limit,” prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer told a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands. “These findings are not sufficient to prosecute new suspects.”

In November, a Dutch court convicted two former Russian intelligence agents and a Ukrainian separatist leader of murder for helping to organize the Russian BUK missile system used to shoot down the plane. The three, who were tried in absentia, remain at large.

When the plane was shot down, Ukrainian forces were fighting Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province.

Russian rejection

When Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, it denied military involvement in the fighting in Donetsk at the time.

But as part of the conviction of the three men in November, a Dutch court ruled that Russia had “total control” of separatist forces in Donetsk since May 2014.

Prosecutors said on Wednesday they could not identify the specific soldiers responsible for firing the missile system that downed the plane, which came from the 53rd Russian brigade in Kursk.

He cited a 2014 phone intercept between Russian officials as evidence that Putin’s approval was needed before requests for equipment made by the separatists could be granted.

In addition, he played a 2017 conversation between Putin himself and the Russian-appointed head of the administrator of Ukraine’s Luhansk province, in which they discussed the military situation and the exchange of prisoners.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what it called a “special military operation,” and in September said it had annexed Donetsk and three other Ukrainian provinces.

Ukraine will use all international legal mechanisms to try to bring Putin to justice for the shooting down of Flight MH17, Attorney General Andriy Kostin said.

“Difficulties in obtaining evidence and functional immunity do not allow prosecuting the president of the RF (Russian Federation) in a national court,” Kostin wrote on Twitter. “We will seek to use all available international legal mechanisms to bring him to justice.”

‘bitter disappointment’

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Wednesday that the Netherlands will continue to hold Russia to account.

Rutte said it was a “bitter disappointment” that the international investigation into the downing of MH17 has ended without further prosecutions for lack of evidence.

“We will continue to call on the Russian Federation to explain its role in this tragedy,” Rutte said in a statement.

Piet Ploeg, who heads the foundation representing the victims, said he was disappointed that the investigation had ended, but was glad prosecutors had provided evidence for Putin’s involvement.

“We can’t do much, Putin can’t be prosecuted,” he said. “We want to know who is responsible, and this is clear.”

Ploeg’s brother, his brother’s wife, and his nephew died on MH17.