Russia refutes Dutch MH17 report with "new important evidence"

Russia's aviation agency Rosaviatsia said Thursday that it has found some new facts on the crash of flight MH17 in 2014, refuting the Dutch Safety Board (DSB)'s investigation report published last October on the incident.

The agency posted a letter online sent by its deputy head Oleg Storchevoy to DSB, stating "some new important evidence" that had not been uncovered in the Dutch investigation was found by the Russian side, confirming that some conclusions of the DSB's final report on the crash of MH17 were unsubstantiated and inaccurate.

The new facts could raise doubts about information given in the Dutch report, such as the possible presence of heavy air defense systems in eastern Ukraine that were not controlled by Ukrainian government forces.

Rosaviatsia said that it is also necessary to review the conclusion of the Dutch side that the aircraft was hit by a 9M38 missile with a 9N314M-type warhead using the BUK surface-to-air missile system.

The Russian side also questioned the detonation position of the missile when hitting the aircraft, as well as the missile's launching area.

The DSB said last October that the warhead detonated close to the left front of the plane, claiming that additional forensic investigation was needed to determine the location of the launch.

Moreover, Rosaviatsia blamed the Dutch report for ignoring the deliberate concealment and distortion of flight safety information by the Ukrainian side.

"Ukrainian authorities deliberately concealed or distorted real threats to civil aviation security caused by the Ukrainian defense ministry's military activities (in eastern Ukraine)," said Rosaviatsia. "As a result, other countries and airlines including Malaysian Airlines did not have necessary and sufficient official information to make a decision to suspend flight over the territory of Ukraine."

The agency also said that Kiev should have banned all air traffic over the country's southeastern areas back in April 2014, when there was escalated tension in the region.

The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014 while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, most of them Dutch citizens.

The West has been claiming that pro-independence insurgents in eastern Ukraine shot down the aircraft, while the Russian side has been denying such allegations and its involvement in the incident.

Russian missile manufacturer Almaz-Antei last October said that the 9M38 surface-to-air missile was launched by the BUK-M1 air defense missile system from the vicinity of Zaroshchenskoye settlement controlled by the Ukrainian military.

It was noted by the Russian side that the 9M38 missiles were removed from the Russian Armed Forces service in 2011, and the BUK-M1 system has not been produced in Russia since 1999.