Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine often reviewed the movements of the Buk missile system that detectives think was used to down Flight MH17 in July 2014, the Dutch Nieuwsuur present affairs program reported Sunday, citing leaked recordings of their call.
Nieuwsuur obtained tapes of hundreds of phone calls made by MH17 suspicious Sergei Dubinsky before, throughout and also after the downing of the traveler flight. The conversations were touched by the Ukrainian secret service. A speaker for the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) told The Moscow Times that they are likewise in ownership of the tapes.
Dubinsky is one of four guys being attempted in absentia by the JIT over the loss of the Malaysia Airlines jet, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was downed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, eliminating all 298 individuals on board.
Dubinsky is a former armed forces knowledge officer that dealt with in Afghanistan as well as Chechnya before moving to eastern Ukraine and heading the separatists’ intelligence services. He is accused by Dutch prosecutors of arranging the transport of the Buk ground-to-air rocket launcher that has been at the facility of the investigation into the MH17 downing.
In October 2015, a report by the Dutch safety board concluded that a single, powerful Russian-made Buk rocket hit the aircraft. The JIT has said it has proof the Buk projectile system that shot down the plane was brought from Russia.
Russia remains to refute any type of involvement and has formerly suggested that the rocket came from a Ukrainian boxer jet.
According to Niewsuur, Dubinsky first talked about the transportation of the Buk rocket with various other separationists the day prior to the downing.
Dubinsky claims that there is nothing he can do against the Ukrainian battle aircraft.
” If I can obtain the Buk system early sufficient in the early morning, I can take it there. After that it’s all right. If not, I’m in the s ***,” he claims.
Dubinsky later on reacts to an additional phone call: “Well, the Buk is expected tonite. Afterwards, all our problems must be fixed.”
On the morning of the downing, Dubinsky is listened to once again going over the Buk projectile system’s transport and safety and security with his deputy Oleg Pulatov, that is also on trial in The Netherlands.
Dubinsky: “Krot will tow the Buk-M to you any kind of min now.”
Pulatov: “Yes, recognized.”
Dubinsky: “You are to establish it up near Pervomayskoye, that Buk-M. As well as Vostok will certainly send 3 tanks as safety.”
The touched phone calls contradict earlier statements by Pulatov– the only suspect to be represented by defense lawyers in the Dutch court– that has actually stated he saw no signs of the missile supposedly used to obliterate the plane.
” No I haven’t seen a Buk missile and also I can likewise say for sure there was certainly no Buk seen,” Pulatov stated in a November 2020 video clip message to court.
” No Buk nor any kind of Buk-related commands were pointed out” throughout talks he had with various other rebels on the day of the crash, he stated.
Confusion after MH17 crash
The tapes also appear to reveal that Dubinsky was unaware that a traveler plane had actually been lowered for hrs after the occasions took place.
According to the tapes, Dubinsky consulted with squadron leader Leonid Kharchenko around 30 mins after the plane’s downing, with the commander notifying him they downed a Ukrainian battle airplane.
Kharchenko: “We get on the spot. We have actually currently reduced a ‘Sushka’.”
Dubinsky: “Well done, large men! A ‘Sushka’! Well done.”
Because the begin of the trial, the prosecution has actually moved on the concept that the criminals misinterpreted the MH17 traveler airplane for a Ukrainian Sukhoi military plane, described as “Sushka.”
In among the tapes, hours after the downing, Dubinsky is heard asking Pulatov whether the Buk system was terminated or not.
” Tell me, did our Buk fire or not?” Dubinsky can be heard stating.
Pulatov: “The Buk has actually reduced a ‘Sushka’.”
Dubinsky: “So …”
Pulatov: “But prior to that, the ‘Sushka’ downed the Boeing. They tried at fault us for that.”
A representative for the Dutch public prosecution department told Nieuwsuur that the truth Dubinsky appeared not aware that a guest plane had actually been rejected had no influence on the situation versus him.
” He is guilty of triggering an airplane to have an accident as well as murdering those aboard,” the spokesperson said. “There is no requirement to verify intent.”