14.10.2015
As the modification and the type of missile suggest and given the location of BUK complex that downed the Malaysian Boeing in 2014 the plane might have been downed by Ukrainian punitive forces, Aleksandr Lusan, the former Deputy Army air defense commander claims.
“9М38, 9М38М, 9М38М1 missiles are earlier modifications of BUK missiles, however, they all have similar warheads. They are no longer in service in Russian Armed forces but continue to be used in other countries, including Ukraine. We are using another type of missiles, 9М317, for about 15 years,” Lusan said.
“This BUK didn’t come from the militia – all the more so it could not be from Russia, we simply don’t have such “BUK” modifications. As the modifications and type of the missile launched and where it was launched from suggest, this “BUK” belonged to Ukrainian army. Basically Ukraine had three military districts: Prikarpatye, Odessa and Kiev, which had five BUK air defense missile brigades deployed including different BUK modifications – BUK, BUK-M, BUK-M1, which includes over 100 air defense units. The Ukrainian army commanders would have no difficulty redeploying these systems in conflict area,” Lusan argues.
The fragments suggest that the missile that downed MH17 was not 9М317 used by Russian army. Lusan claims that “strike elements presented by the International investigative committee have nothing to do with BUK missiles“.
According to Ruben Esayan, a test pilot and deputy General Director of flight test facility with State Research and Development Institute of Civil aviation, the International Civil Aviation Association prescribes a route to be fully closed in case hostilities take place in the country, when flying across the country is not safe.
Moreover, an investigation should have been initiated in the country where the plane went down, with the participation of experts and the injured party, wreckage should have been collected and a contour of the plane laid out on the ground. “Instead Ukraine was waging hostilities there, with SU-25 flying and bombing areas around Donetsk,” he said.
Source: TASS
