Investigators release call records linking MH17 suspects to top Russian officials

Dutch investigators said they were making a ‘new witness appeal’ based on the calls between Ukrainian separatists and high-ranking Russian officials

Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down by a Russian-made BUK missile in 2014 over eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board were killed

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The remains of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 after it crashed while flying over eastern Ukraine. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:47pm, 14 Nov 2019Updated: 8:47pm, 14 Nov 2019

A Dutch-led investigation into the shooting down of flight Malaysia Airlines flight 17 over Ukraine in 2014 released new intercepted phone calls on Thursday between high-ranking Russian officials and suspects facing trial over the crash.

Investigators said they were making a “new witness appeal” based on “recorded telephone calls between the leaders of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic, a separatist group) and high-ranking Russian officials”.

An armed pro-Russian separatist stands on part of the plane’s wreckage in 2014. Photo: Reuters

“Ties between Russian officials and DPR leaders appear to have been much closer” than originally believed, Andy Kraag, the head of Dutch police’s Criminal Investigations Division, said in a video statement.

Investigators said in June that they were going to put three Russian nationals and one Ukrainian on trial in the Netherlands in March 2020 over the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jet, although they are likely to be tried in absentia.

Reconstructed wreckage of the MH17 aeroplane in Gilze Rijen, the Netherlands, in 2015. Photo: Reuters