MH17 Crash and Cyber Attack
On 8th of March 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 mysteriously disappeared mid air, which drew attention of many, but in the same year, another Malaysian flight, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) was shot down by Buk surface-to-air missile launched by pro-Russian separatist from the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people.
Background
To understand where it all began, we need to look into Ukraine Ethnic divide prior to 2013. Eastern and southern Ukraine, comprising the region of Donbas and Crimea, were ethnically more Russian than Ukrainian and While western Ukraine wanted closer ties with European union (EU), eastern Ukraine were more tilted towards Russia. The balance between the both started to crumble with the question of European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement.
The chain of events started with public protest on the night of 21 November 2013 in Kiev, Capital city of Ukraine, against Viktor Yanukovych, then president of Ukraine, for stalling a EU association agreement. The public protest by February 2014, escalated into Ukrainian revolution, ousting Viktor Yanukovych from power.
Russia responded to Ukrainian revolution by annexing Crimea by the end of march 2014, which further triggered War in Donbass region, which as of toady is still ongoing conflict.
War in Donbass and Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
By may of 2014, separatists in Donbass regions declared independence in the form of Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic, which are still considered self-proclaimed proto-state.
During the peak of this war, on July 17 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, on a journey from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, in Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, In Malaysia, was mistakenly shot down by Russian backed separatists in Donbass, triggering a yet another crisis for Russia which was already struggling with international pressure due annexation of Crimea.
Investigations
Soon after the incident, two investigation were opened up, first dealt with the causes of the crash, which was delegated to Dutch safety Board and the other with the criminal investigation of the disaster.
Dutch safety Board submitted its final report on 13 October 2015, with a conclusion that the crash of MH17 was caused by detonation of a model of 9N314M warhead, fitted to a 9M38M1-series missile that was fired from a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile system.
Meanwhile for the criminal investigation into the MH17 disaster, A JIT was set up on 7 August 2014, comprising of police and judicial authorities of the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia and Belgium and Ukraine. Presently this investigation is being led by the Public Prosecution Service of the Dutch Ministry of Justice. Participating in the investigation along with the Netherlands, are the four other members of the joint investigation team (JIT).
On 28 September 2016, Joint Investigation Team (JIT) claimed that it has irrefutable evidence to establish that flight MH17 was shot down by a BUK missile from the 9M38 series, which was fired from a rebel-controlled agricultural field near Pervomaisky, which at that time was controlled by separatists. On 24 May 2018 it was further claimed that the BUK used to shoot down MH17 originated from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, which is a unit of the Russian armed forces from Kursk in the Russian Federation. Finally, on 19 June 2019, Public Prosecution Service, based on JIT and Dutch safety Board report, decided to prosecute four suspects for bringing down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17:
- Igor Vsevolodovich GIRKIN (17–12–1970), Russian nationality
- Sergey Nikolayevich DUBINSKIY (09 -08- 1962), Russian nationality
- Oleg Yuldashevich PULATOV (24–07–1966), Russian nationality
- Leonid Volodymyrovych KHARCHENKO (10–01–1972), Ukrainian nationality
The Public Prosecution Service alleged that the above four cooperated to obtain and deploy the BUK at the firing location with the aim of shooting down an aircraft.
As of July 2021, Dutch court is yet to deliver the verdict. For complete time line and updates regarding the court proceedings, please refer to Public Prosecution Service website.
Cozy Bear and Hacking
In June 2021, Vokskrant, a Dutch newspaper, reported based on anonymous sources that in 2017 Dutch intelligence service AIVD discovered that Cozy Bear, Russian hackers group, had broken into the Dutch police systems. Interestingly, in 2017, Dutch police were working on criminal investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. On 9 July 2021, Russian foreign Ministry responded on its website, terming the report as fake and a broader coverup for the scandals relating to collecting data of the Dutch citizens by the Dutch Defense Ministry. Here is the excerpt from the response:
Generally speaking, the Western media regularly plant such fake stories on a variety of topics. Recently the theme of “Russian hackers” and “Chinese “IT-specialists” emerged so as to cover up the scandals related to collecting data on the country’s citizens by both the Defense Ministry, which is not legally authorized to do so, and municipal officials who used fake Facebook accounts. Apparently, this is done for the public to feel a threat emanating from somewhere outside rather than from the EU defense and security agencies and NATO.
Conclusion
A Malaysian airline crashed in Ukraine, bringing Netherlands and Russia to loggerheads, which reflects the wide arena of international affairs. Also to note, from this whole episode, is the mode of warfare: proxy war of Russia in eastern Ukraine, use of Surface to Air (SAM) missile system by separatists and cyber attack on crucial infrastructure. But like all other warfare, civilians were the real victim.
More read
- Article on Bellingcat, Netherlands-based investigative journalism website that specializes in fact-checking and open-source intelligence, Website: MH17 — Potential Suspects and Witnesses from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade
- Article on Dutch Public Prosecution Service Website: The criminal investigation by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT)
