Probe says missile launcher from Russia downed Malaysian jet

NIEUWEGEIN, Netherlands -- An international criminal probe concluded that a missile which destroyed a Malaysian passenger jet over Ukraine in 2014 and killed all 298 people aboard was fired from rebel-controlled territory by a mobile launcher trucked in from Russia and hastily returned there.

The report, released Wednesday, was "solid proof" of a Russian role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, Ukraine's president said. Moscow immediately denounced the findings of the Dutch-led inquiry as "biased and politically motivated."

Investigators have identified 100 people they want to speak to who are believed to have been involved in transporting the Buk missile launcher or its use, chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said at a news conference.

The Boeing 777, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was blown out of the sky July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine amid fierce fighting between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.

Ukraine immediately blamed the rebels, although they and the Kremlin consistently have denied any involvement.

The Joint Investigation Team, led by prosecutors and police from the Netherlands, made its preliminary findings public after interviewing more than 200 witnesses, listening to 150,000 intercepted phone calls, examining half a million photos and video recordings, consulting radar and satellite images, and sifting through dozens of containers filled with wreckage from the jet.

"It may be concluded MH17 was shot down by a 9M38 missile launched by a Buk brought in from the territory of the Russian Federation, and that after launch was subsequently returned to the Russian Federation," said Wilbert Paulissen, leader of the Dutch National Police Central Crime Investigation Department.

The surface-to-air weapon that destroyed the jetliner at 33,000 feet was fired from farmland in the rebel-held area of Pervomaiskiy, the investigation found.

Witnesses there reported an explosion and a whistling sound, and a patch of field was set on fire.

The conclusions of the investigative unit, which included police and prosecutors from the Netherlands, Ukraine, Belgium, Australia and Malaysia, were consistent with earlier reporting by The Associated Press, which established soon after the jet's destruction a tracked Buk M-1 launcher with four surface-to-air missiles had been seen July 17 in the rebel-controlled town of Snizhne near Pervomaiskiy.

Families of the victims, about two-thirds of whom were Dutch, were told of investigators' findings at a closed-door meeting earlier Wednesday.

Hans de Borst, whose 17-year-old daughter, Elsemiek, was aboard Flight 17, called it a "big relief" to learn investigators believes the evidence painstakingly assembled over two years will stand up in court if suspects can be identified and brought to justice.

Last fall, a Dutch Safety Board investigation concluded the jetliner was brought down by a Buk, but those findings were not intended to be used in a criminal trial.

"The next question, of course, is who was responsible for this," Westerbeke said.

Pressed by journalists, the prosecutor declined to give more information about the 100 people believed to be involved, including whether any are Russian nationals.

"Who gave the orders?" Westerbeke asked. "Did the crew take its own decisions or were they operating on instructions from above?"

He appealed to "insider witnesses" to come forward, saying they could receive immunity or reduced sentences.

The prosecutor said he was "fully confident" the investigation would lead to a trial. But he said it was too early to decide which court could hear it.

"We won't make that choice until we know who has to be tried," Westerbeke said.

At this point in the investigation, "we're not making any statement about involvement of the Russian Federation as a country or of people from the Russian Federation," he said.