18.09.2018, Moscow.
The Director of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Lieutenant General Nikolay Parshin at a briefing on September 17 said that the path of the 9M38 missile of the Buk anti-aircraft missile system was traced from the technical documents that were completed in the process of its manufacturing, and it was established that the missile belonged to the Ukrainian army, a correspondent of the Rossa Primavera News Agency reports.
According to Parshin, the experts from the Russian Ministry of Defense analyzed photos provided by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) (the team was established to investigate the incident, and it includes officials from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Ukraine ― Rossa Primavera News Agency), which show the engine and the nozzle of the 9M38 Buk missile. Because a set of technical documents is prepared for each missile, which is kept at the manufacturing facility regardless of the further fate of the product, the commission was able to trace the path of this missile.
An image that Parshin demonstrated showed records for a 9D13105000 nozzle module No. 8.30.113 and for a 9D131 engine No. 8.86.90.32. The documents were stored at the archive of the Dolgoprudny Research and Production Enterprise where the missile was manufactured.
“According to the engine record, the nozzle was a part of the engine, and it was mounted on the engine on December 24, 1986,” the lieutenant general said. The record further demonstrates that the same day this engine was mounted on a missile with serial number 8.86.8720. According to Parshin, the last four digits are unique, and they can identify the missile’s ID number as well as the military unit where it was supplied, including the date of its receipt.
Based on this information, the experts of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation found that the unique ID number of the missile was 8.86.847.379, and that it was supplied to the military unit No.20152. This military unit is the 223rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, which was part of the Carpathian Military District in 1986, and it was located in the city of Terebovlya, Ternopol region, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Parshin noted that the brigade was not withdrawn to the territory of the Russian Federation, and today it is the 223rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment of the Ukrainian army located in the city of Stry, Lvov region. “The units of this regiment were deployed on a regular basis in the so-called anti-terrorist operation in southeastern Ukraine,” Parshin added.
“Thus, the missile belonged to the Ukrainian army, and it was never returned to the territory of the Russian Federation. This has already been communicated to the Dutch side,” he stressed.
A Boeing 777, flight MH-17, was flying on June 17, 2014, from the Netherlands to Malaysia. It crashed over Donetsk in the area where hostilities were taking place, killing 283 passengers and 15 crew members.
On May 24, 2018, the officials from the Netherlands blamed the catastrophe on Russia. According to the JIT, flight MH-17 was shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft missile system from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian army located near Kursk, and the missile was allegedly launched from the territory controlled by the Donetsk People’s Republic’s militia.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly communicated that the Russian side cooperates with the JIT, and that it provides all necessary materials, including classified ones. However, in fact the JIT ignores the materials that Russia provides. At the same time, the Parliament of the Netherlands found it inappropriate to investigate whether Ukraine could be responsible for the crash of MH-17.
On June 23, 2018, a Dutch journalist, Eric van de Beek, said that parts of the crashed plane still remained at the site, and no one was interested in them.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
