MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) — The documents with records on Ukrainian surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles could help determine which missile systems were used against the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777, if Kiev hands them to international experts, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said in an interview with Rossyia 24 channel Saturday.
«Are the representatives of the Ukrainian Air Forces ready to hand the documents with the records on the air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles to international experts? That is a very important question that will allow us to determine the systems used against the Malaysian Boeing. Will these records of the objective control over the redeployment of the Ukrainian Air Forces' planes on the day of the tragedy be presented to the international commission?" Antonov said.
The ministry has formulated 10 questions for the Ukrainian Air Forces on the crash. The answers could help Russia and the international community in their attempts to find answers to the main questions: what actually happened in the air above Ukraine, and what needs to be done for it not to happen again, Antonov said.
On Thursday, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the town of Torez in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region with 298 people on board. All passengers and crew members, including 85 children, died.
Kiev blamed independence supporters in the turbulent Donetsk Region for downing the passenger plane with a surface-to-air missile. Adviser to Ukrainian Interior Minister in his statement on Facebook went as far as to call the Buk missile systems “a gift from Putin” to independence supporters.
The leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic said local militia did not have the required technology to shoot a target flying as high at 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in the air. The missile systems that were found in the Ukrainian military unit, which was captured by self-defense forces, were a «scrap pile» unfit to be used and beyond repair, according to independence supporters.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Kiev should take responsibility for tragedy and that “the circumstances around the aircraft disaster need to be investigated carefully and objectively.”
Rescuers have revealed two black boxes from the plane. Ukraine, Malaysia Airlines and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are already investigating the accident at the site. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), Interpol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are also planning to join the investigation.
