Big news in Russia today: The international investigation team investigating the MH17 disaster would have seriously considered secretly hearing witnesses. In Russia. Without permission from the authorities. And that would be a flagrant violation of Russian sovereignty.
Whether the message is correct or not really matters. It is not reported whether the researchers actually carried out the consideration attributed to them. It seems to be yet another attempt to create confusion as to who should be held responsible for the downing of the Boeing 777 by Malaysia Airlines on July 17, 2014.
But otherwise it is deafening in the Russian media on the eve of the MH17 trial, which starts tomorrow. There are virtually no reports about the content of the trial, or about the Russian suspects being tried in the Netherlands. It is mainly about the corona virus. Also International Women’s Day and it marriage proposal from a woman to President Putin are high on the agenda.
“Make Russia black”
That does not mean, of course, that in recent years Russian viewers, readers and listeners have heard nothing about the disaster that took place on July 17, 2014. There is endless news, contemplation, analysis and discussion in newspapers, on the radio, on television and online. But the Kremlin maintains over the years that it is not responsible for the shooting of MH17.
One of the faces that repeatedly appeared in the media was that of Maria Zacharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She had only one message from the start: the investigation of the international Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and the conclusion drawn by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service that three Russians (and one Ukrainian) are responsible, are “biased”, “politically motivated” and “focused solely on blackening Russia”.
In other words, Russia has nothing to do with the MH17 disaster. It did not bring a Buk installation to Eastern Ukraine, from where the Boeing of Malaysia Airlines was taken down. Let alone that installation could have been used to shoot the aircraft out of the sky. In addition, Zacharova does not hesitate to use large words, which, incidentally, are usually difficult to control.
Correspondent David Jan Godfroid about the news in the Russian media:
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