According to international researchers, Russian President Vladimir Putin played an active role in the downing of passenger plane MH17 in eastern Ukraine in July 2014. This is emerging from wiretaps, as the investigation team explained in The Hague on Wednesday. There are “strong indications” that the decision came from President Putin. Russia has always categorically denied any involvement in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER.

When the passenger plane was shot down in eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014, all 298 people, including 283 passengers and 15 Malaysian crew members, died on board, including 196 Dutch. It was already proven in court that the plane was shot down by a Buk surface-to-air missile from a Russian military base in Kursk. The missile was said to have been fired from an area in eastern Ukraine controlled by the self-proclaimed pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic.