(Bloomberg) -- The Dutch-led criminal investigation team conducting a probe into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine last year said it is examining parts that could be from a Buk surface-to-air-missile system, following allegations that a missile caused the disaster.
“The parts are of particular interest to the criminal investigation as they can possibly provide more information about who was involved in the crash of MH17,” the Dutch public prosecutor’s office said in a statement Tuesday. No conclusions can yet be drawn as to whether there is a causal connection between the discovered parts and MH17, it also said.
The Boeing Co. 777 was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew when it came down on July 17, 2014 while traveling over the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The plane broke up in the air, most likely as a result of structural damage after being penetrated from the outside by “a large number of high-energy objects,” the Dutch Safety Board said Sept. 9.
The possible Buk missile parts were secured during a previous recovery mission in eastern Ukraine, the public prosecutor’s office said, adding that the help of analysts including forensic specialists and weapon experts will be enlisted internationally. The investigators are conducting the probe of the parts in cooperation with the Dutch Safety Board, which is scheduled to publish a separate report on the crash in October.
‘Terrorist Attack’
The U.S. and other countries accuse pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine of shooting down the airliner using a Buk missile supplied by Russia, which has denied any involvement and suggested the Ukrainian army may have downed the plane.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko pointed the finger at Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the anniversary of the crash last month, calling it a “ruthless terrorist attack” by separatists that “would not have happened without participation, without a direct order from the highest political and military leadership of the neighboring state.”
Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on July 29 to create an international tribunal to try those suspected of downing the plane. Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that his country drafted the resolution to ensure the investigation is “as depoliticized as possible,” while Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin called the initiative “premature, counterproductive and legally unsound.”
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