A leading Russian weapons manufacturer said on Tuesday that the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a Ukrainian missile. The state-owned weapons conglomerate Almaz-Antei presented an expert report on the crash in a press conference in Moscow.
Almaz-Antei CEO Yan Novikov said that a Buk-M1 system armed with a 9M38M1 missile was used to bring down MH17, and production of this particular missile was stopped in Russia way back in 1999, according to Tass News Agency.
"According to our estimates, the missile was launched from a position near Zaroshchenskoye. At the same time we have irrefutable evidence this type of missiles is still in service in the Ukrainian armed forces. At that moment there were 991 such missiles there," Novikov said.
Almaz-Antei has also suggested recreating the MH17 plane crash by shooting another Boeing 777 plane using Buk missile system, The Guardian reported.
"If necessary, we will be prepared to stage a full-scale real-life experiment attended by independent observers and experts," Novikov told Russia's Tass News Agency.
Almaz-Antei, the country's biggest defense firm, attempted to appeal against EU sanctions imposed last year over its alleged role in supplying pro-Russian separatists with the missile, according to the Moscow Times.
The Ukrainian Army has not commented on Russian statements regarding point of origin of missile, however, it claimed that missile was launched from territory controlled by the rebels, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
"There are a lot of photos and video, radio messages of militants were intercepted in which they rejoiced that another Ukrainian plane was shot down, and when it became clear that this was a Malaysian aircraft, they bit their tongues. This speaks in favor of our theory," Vladyslav Selezniov, spokesman for the General Staff of Armed Forces, told Interfax.
All 298 people aboard MH17, from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, died in the crash on July 17 last year. The plane was crashed in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, around 60km from the Russian border.
