Perspectief 2019-44

Perspectief 106 MH17 – the Ukrainian Context 45,000] in compensation. At the same time, they signed non-disclosure statements under threat of criminal prosecution. The second wave of coffins came to Russia in mass numbers in January and early February 2015. According to our analysis, at least 70 Russian military were killed in the east of Ukraine. At a minimum, 17 Russian paratroopers who had come from the city of Ivanovo were killed in the territory of Ukraine. (A handwritten note about this from Boris Nemtsov was obtained by the authors of this report.) The mass killing of Russian soldiers was connected to an escalation of the conflict and of resistance, notably near the city of Debaltsevo. 8 These data contest the repeated statements by Vladimir Putin about absence of the Rus- sian military in Ukraine, such as the following one: “There have not been and are no Russian army units or military trainers in the south-east of Ukraine. The Americans are lying. We have never been involved in nor are we now involved in the destabilization of the situation in Ukraine.” 9 8. MH17 Russia tried to cover up another military crime it committed. On July 17, 2014, a Russian missile targeted a civil Boeing 777 performing flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members who were on board died. This Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was targeted in the airspace of Ukraine. The plane hit the ground near the village of Hrabove, close to the city of Torez in the Donetsk oblast’ of Ukraine. This place was at that time under the control of the Russia backed separatists. They impeded access to the site for the international investigation groups and tried to remove some debris from the crash site. Despite the obstacles from the separatists, several investigations tried to establish who and how shot the plane. The most official of them, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was led by the Dutch government. This is because most passengers, 196, were Dutch nationals. The (JIT) included also other nationalities and was supported by other governments. The