News Stories

MH17: Fakes and Narratives of Russian Propaganda

23.7.2024
2
min read

An international investigation has found that the Boeing 777 of MH17 Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight, where all 298 passengers were killed, was shot down by a Russian-made Buk anti-aircraft missile system. But Russia continues to manipulate the issue, blaming Ukraine.

Propagandist Yulia Vityazeva writes: “10 years ago, on July 17, 2014, Ukraine shot down a Malaysian Boeing in the skies over Donbas and killed 298 people who were on board the aircraft. The culprits are known to everyone. So far, they have not been punished.”

In the 10 years since the day of the airliner, the rhetoric of the Russian media about the disaster has not changed, only the focus of propaganda has changed. This was due to the start of the court hearings in The Hague and the disclosure of previously unknown evidence of Russian involvement in the downing of the plane.

StopFake published a whole series of investigations, where it analyzes and debunks in detail every Russian fake about the downing of Boeing.

The Kremlin's narratives of the MH17 disaster gathered by a team of fact-checkers StopFake:

  • MH17 was shot down by a Ukrainian aircraft SU-25, the Armed Forces wanted to shoot down Putin's side;
  • Boeing passengers “were dead long before the plane went down”;
  • Russian “Buk” was not found at the scene of the plane crash;
  • “US-Ukraine conspiracy”, “Western patronage” and “fencing” Ukraine in the investigation;
  • “falsification” of the judicial process, in the Netherlands they do not really “investigate” alternative situations in the MH17 case, “ignore” Russian evidence against Ukraine;
  • “bloody anti-Russian fake”, “Russia's non-involvement” in the disaster, “a huge number of people” believe in Russia's innocence.

Russia, in response to the investigation, conducted a whole disinformation campaign with its own witnesses and fake sources.

Ukrainian photographer, journalist of Accociated Press Mstislav Chernov is one of the first to document the consequences of the largest aircraft accident in the history of Ukraine.

According to Mstislav, then accreditations for international agencies were still working in Donbas, so the photographers worked, following the news:

Photo by Mstislav Chernov

“When there were reports on social media that the transport plane had been shot down, we decided to go and shoot urgently. On the way, they called from London and reported that a passenger plane was missing. At first we didn't even realize what had happened. It was thought that two planes disappeared at once. Then everything became clear.”

Contact with the aircraft, Boeing 777-200ER, was lost about 50 km from the Ukrainian-Russian border, and the wreckage of the plane crashed near Torez, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 40 km from the border.
The accident occurred in an area controlled by the so-called “People's Militia of Donbas”, during the fighting in Shakhtar district as part of the war in Donbas,” comments Mstislav Chernov.

An international investigation has established that MH17 was shot down from a Russian-made Buk anti-aircraft missile system. The Netherlands, Australia, the United States, the G7 countries, the EU and NATO officially agreed with the experts' conclusions.

A court in The Hague sentenced two Russians and one Ukrainian in absentia.

In 2020, the Dutch government appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to hold Russia responsible for the deaths of 298 people, 80 of them children. The dead were citizens of different countries, the majority were Dutch.

In June 2024, the European Court of Justice concluded its oral hearings and proceeded to prepare a verdict on the interstate case “Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia”.

An international investigation has found that the Boeing 777 of MH17 Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight, where all 298 passengers were killed, was shot down by a Russian-made Buk anti-aircraft missile system. But Russia continues to manipulate the issue, blaming Ukraine.

Propagandist Yulia Vityazeva writes: “10 years ago, on July 17, 2014, Ukraine shot down a Malaysian Boeing in the skies over Donbas and killed 298 people who were on board the aircraft. The culprits are known to everyone. So far, they have not been punished.”

In the 10 years since the day of the airliner, the rhetoric of the Russian media about the disaster has not changed, only the focus of propaganda has changed. This was due to the start of the court hearings in The Hague and the disclosure of previously unknown evidence of Russian involvement in the downing of the plane.

StopFake published a whole series of investigations, where it analyzes and debunks in detail every Russian fake about the downing of Boeing.

The Kremlin's narratives of the MH17 disaster gathered by a team of fact-checkers StopFake:

  • MH17 was shot down by a Ukrainian aircraft SU-25, the Armed Forces wanted to shoot down Putin's side;
  • Boeing passengers “were dead long before the plane went down”;
  • Russian “Buk” was not found at the scene of the plane crash;
  • “US-Ukraine conspiracy”, “Western patronage” and “fencing” Ukraine in the investigation;
  • “falsification” of the judicial process, in the Netherlands they do not really “investigate” alternative situations in the MH17 case, “ignore” Russian evidence against Ukraine;
  • “bloody anti-Russian fake”, “Russia's non-involvement” in the disaster, “a huge number of people” believe in Russia's innocence.

Russia, in response to the investigation, conducted a whole disinformation campaign with its own witnesses and fake sources.

Ukrainian photographer, journalist of Accociated Press Mstislav Chernov is one of the first to document the consequences of the largest aircraft accident in the history of Ukraine.

According to Mstislav, then accreditations for international agencies were still working in Donbas, so the photographers worked, following the news:

Photo by Mstislav Chernov

“When there were reports on social media that the transport plane had been shot down, we decided to go and shoot urgently. On the way, they called from London and reported that a passenger plane was missing. At first we didn't even realize what had happened. It was thought that two planes disappeared at once. Then everything became clear.”

Contact with the aircraft, Boeing 777-200ER, was lost about 50 km from the Ukrainian-Russian border, and the wreckage of the plane crashed near Torez, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 40 km from the border.
The accident occurred in an area controlled by the so-called “People's Militia of Donbas”, during the fighting in Shakhtar district as part of the war in Donbas,” comments Mstislav Chernov.

An international investigation has established that MH17 was shot down from a Russian-made Buk anti-aircraft missile system. The Netherlands, Australia, the United States, the G7 countries, the EU and NATO officially agreed with the experts' conclusions.

A court in The Hague sentenced two Russians and one Ukrainian in absentia.

In 2020, the Dutch government appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to hold Russia responsible for the deaths of 298 people, 80 of them children. The dead were citizens of different countries, the majority were Dutch.

In June 2024, the European Court of Justice concluded its oral hearings and proceeded to prepare a verdict on the interstate case “Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia”.

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