‘It remains our belief’: US insists rebels downed MH17 with BUK missile, ignores Dutch report
Despite a 15-month-long Dutch-led probe not definitively concluding who fired the BUK surface-to-air missile or the precise location from which it originated, the US continues to pursue its “belief” that it was east Ukrainian rebels who downed flight MH17.
The State department spokesman Mark Toner welcomed “the important findings” of the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) presented on Tuesday, briefing journalists that the Dutch report “validated” the US theory that the Malaysia-bound flight carrying nearly 300 passengers was downed “by a BUK surface-to-air missile” from “separatist-controlled territory.”
“The unintelligible babbling we have to read constantly simply aims at, on one hand, confusing, and on the other hand – to form a desired public opinion, which could effectively be called propaganda,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson said at a media briefing in Moscow.
Maria Zakharova pointed out that merely days after the MH17 tragedy, the US rushed to present the public with its assessment of “not the results, but the causes of the Malaysian Boeing tragedy.”
Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson stressed that the US confirmed their position “long before” the Dutch report was published.
The adjustment of beliefs and results of the investigation has unfortunately become “commonplace, notably not only with the Malaysian Boeing issue, but with other subjects as well,” Zakharova said.
On Tuesday, spokesman Toner confirmed that Washington stood by “our belief”, despite the fact that DSB reports neither attributed blame, nor determined the exact location from which the missile was launched.
When asked to clarify how it could “possibly support your theory,” Toner only repeated, again:
“Because it does say that the MH17 was shot down by a BUK missile fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, and we’ve said that from day one…”
Toner’s statement, however, contradicts the Dutch Safety Board’s official findings presented Tuesday. The report has not mentioned the exact launch location, only specifying that the warhead was detonated from somewhere within a 320 sq. km area in eastern Ukraine. The report also avoided speculation about who the territory was controlled by at the time.
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https://www.rt.com/news/318613-usa-rebels-mh17-buk/