Interception of Russian agents’ communications revealed in MH17 trial — UNIAN

In the case of the MH17 crash being heard in a Dutch court, intercepted phone conversations between fighters from the “Donbas People’s Republic” were made public, showing them discussing the results of a Buk anti-aircraft missile system firing on a passenger plane over Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern war zone.

this BBC Today’s hearing reportedly began with the playing of a previously released recording of a phone call made half an hour after the MH17 crash.

In the recording, the commander of the so-called “GRU DPR” reconnaissance company, Leonid Kharchenko, reported to the Russian general and so-called “DPR intelligence chief” Sergei Dubinsky:

“We’re on the scene and we’ve shot down a Soviet fighter.” “Well done, you guys, well done! Shot down a Soviet fighter…well done!” Dubinsky replied.

Both Kharchenko and Dubinsky are suspects in the MH17 crash trial being heard by a court in The Hague, Netherlands. According to prosecutors, both were involved in transporting the Buk-M anti-aircraft missile system that ultimately shot down the passenger plane.

READ ALSOBellingcat reporter on MH17: All evidence proves Russia carried the deadly transmitterAccording to mobile phone billing data studied by investigators, Kharchenko was in the occupied Snizhny region at the time of the intercepted call, while Dubinsky was in Donetsk. The mobile phone of someone who had been with Kharchenko at the time of the Boeing crash (about 30 minutes before the intercepted call) was sent to a tower near the village of Pervomaysk. The missile that the joint investigation team said was launched from there to shoot down MH17.

Soon after the above conversation, the People’s Republic militants began reporting to their commanders that the crashed plane appeared to be a civilian aircraft. However, many people were unaware of this fact at the time.

At 17:42, Sergei Povalyaev (call sign “Botsman”), a soldier of the Donetsk People’s Republic troops, called Dubinsky.

“Botsman”: I have a plane shot down here, I’m behind the box. I’ll report back if you need so you can report back further later.

DUBINSKY: We beat up somebody (inaudible).

“Botsman”: What did you say?

Dubinsky: I’ll be in the city in two hours. I’m in Malinivka. We just hit a plane, a Sushka. Over Saur Mohyla. We hit that Buk-M, so yeah.

At a previous court hearing, the court played intercepted phone calls in which Dubinsky repeatedly mentioned receiving Buk missile launchers and organizing their transportation from Donetsk to Snizhne.

READ ALSOIntercepted communications between Russia and proxy warlords reveal new details of MH17 crashIn a call at 18:44, Kharchenko contacted Oleg Pulatov (call sign “Gyurza”), a retired military intelligence officer of the Russian army, who in 2014 served as the so-called head of the second department of the “GRU DPR”.

In the recording, Platov gave a new account of what was happening over Donbass.

Pulatov: If you have time, you can come over here. They captured a downed pilot, so we need to check the situation here to assess what happened. From the report, it seems that this pilot… What I mainly want you to tell me is: whether Booker was shot down, this…

Kharchenko: Everything is fine, it went somewhere else.

Platov: Okay, very good. The point is: it was Sushka who crashed the Chinese airliner.

Kharchenko: No, no, no, we are making that Sushka.

Platov: No, I know. It was before that that Shushka shot down the Chinese plane. We didn’t notice Shushka until then. Now the whole world will be shocked by this.

Kharchenko: I see.

Platov: Everything is fine there. Now the most important thing is to say… (inaudible). Take a few people with you and come to me through Torez, and I will show you the way forward.

Kharchenko: Okay.

The Joint Investigation Team confirmed that only one plane was shot down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014, and that was Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

READ ALSOBellingcat: Key figure in MH17 incident identified as senior FSB officialMeanwhile, Platov and Kharchenko continued to insist on their claims on the phone that a Buk aircraft guarded by “Donetsk People’s Republic” militants had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft, which had also allegedly shot down the passenger plane shortly before. Dubinsky quickly reported this claim to the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic Defense Minister” Igor Strelkov, who is also a suspect in the MH17 case.

Dubinsky: We were watching from Snizhny, and our guys were there too. This is what happened: the Sushka hit the Boeing, and then during the second turn, the Sushka was shot down by our guys from Buk. Our guys (and to be clear, “many”) witnessed it. Gyurza just reported it.

Strelkov: I see… I see, okay.

Dubinsky: The Sushka hit the Boeing, and our guys (explicitly, “hit”) the Sushka on the Beech plane.

Strelkov: Uh uh…

Dubinsky: Good news?

Strelkov: Well, I don’t know, to be honest, I really don’t believe that.

To investigate this claim, the Joint Investigation Team investigators examined all the air-to-air missiles that the Su-25 attack aircraft can carry. They compared the damage caused by such missiles with the damage on the wreckage of the shot down Boeing aircraft. As a result, the Dutch experts concluded that among all the air-to-air missiles, only the R-33, R-37 and R-40 missiles could cause damage similar to that seen on the wreckage of MH17.

After reviewing documents and interviewing experts, investigators found that only the MiG-31 aircraft can be equipped with such missiles. The Ukrainian army does not have such aircraft. In addition, Ukraine handed over to the Netherlands all flight data of its military aircraft on July 17, 2014 – all flights were carried out outside the eastern combat zone of Ukraine.

The militants of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” have also never displayed the wreckage or black box of the military aircraft that was allegedly shot down in the Snzhny region on July 17.

Investigators also reviewed data transmitted to the Netherlands from Russian and Ukrainian civilian radars. They found no signs of any Ukrainian military aircraft in the vicinity of MH17’s flight path.

MH17 Tribunal

On 7 June, the Tribunal began the trial of four suspects in the July 2014 crash of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing passenger plane (MH17). On 7 June, the Tribunal considered general issues.

The court is currently focusing on three key issues:

• Was MH17 shot down by a missile from the Buk anti-aircraft missile system?
• Was the missile launched from farmland near Pervomaisk?
• Was the suspect involved in the launch?

The hearing on these matters will conclude today. If necessary, the June 11 hearing will be scheduled as an additional day.

Thereafter, the prosecution will have the opportunity to discuss various parts of its case materials on June 17 and 18. The defence will then have the opportunity to discuss various parts of the case documents that it deems important.