'Strong indications' Putin okayed supply of missile that downed flight MH17, says int'l team

By Selman Aksunger

THE HAGUE (AA) - An international investigation team on Wednesday reported "strong indications" that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the delivery of the anti-aircraft missiles that shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.

At a news conference held in the Hague, the Joint Investigation Team said that there were "strong indications" that the Buk missile was sent to separatists in eastern Ukraine with Putin's approval.

A member of the team, Andy Kraag played a recording of an intercepted phone call between Putin and the separatists and said that there were direct communications between them.

"Although we speak of strong indications, the high bar of complete and conclusive evidence is not reached," said Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer.

The Joint Investigation Team is made up of experts from five countries: The Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 people on board were killed, including 196 Dutch citizens.

Previously, it was confirmed that flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile fired from the Pervomaisky area in the Kharkiv region.

Last November, three men received life sentences for the downing of the flight, while one was acquitted.

Russians Sergey Dubinskiy and Igor Girkin, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, were found guilty of causing the crash that resulted in the death of 298 civilians, while another Russian, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted of all charges.