Good morning.
Here's a selection of some of the things that caught our eye overnight. Needless to say, the new MH17 report figures prominently:
From Ukraine's representative to the Council of Europe:
And then there's this from the spokeswoman for the Ukraiian Foreign Ministry:
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Wednesday, September 28, 2016. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.
Russia ‘Disappointed’ In MH17 Investigation, Dismisses Probe As ‘Biased’
By Tom Balmforth
MOSCOW – Russian officials have decried the interim results of an international investigation that found that the Malaysian Airlines passenger jet that crashed in eastern Ukraine in July 2014 was shot down by an antiaircraft missile transported from Russia and fired from rebel-controlled territory in Ukraine.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the findings, released on September 28, showed the probe was “biased and politically motivated."
She suggested that Ukraine had been allowed to forge evidence, while the manufacturer of the Buk antiaircraft missile, Almaz Antey, alleged that investigators ignored information they had shared.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukrainian territory on July 17, 2014, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 passengers and crew on board perished.
MORE: International Criminal Probe Blames Missile From Russia For MH17 Tragedy
The Joint Investigation Team said that MH17 was shot down by a Buk missile fired from rebel-controlled Ukraine. Investigators did not blame Russia directly but said that the Buk was transported from Russia into Ukraine and later smuggled back.
In comments to Russian news agencies, Major General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, also criticized the findings, claiming they were based on two sources: the Internet and the Ukrainian security services.
Konashenkov denied that a missile system crossed the border between Ukraine and Russia.
Russian officials and state media have made strenuous efforts to lay the blame on Kyiv, at various times suggesting that the passenger plane was shot down by a Ukrainian fighter jet or by a Buk missile launcher in the hands of Ukrainian forces.
The Joint Investigation Team said it had ruled out all other explanations for MH17’s crash.
“Arbitrarily assigning blame and dreaming up the desired results has become the norm for our Western colleagues,” Zakharova said in comments published on the Foreign Ministry website.
Zakharova accused the Joint Investigation Team of “marginalizing Moscow from full-fledged participation in the investigative process, relegating our efforts to a minor role.”
“It sounds like a bad joke, but at the same time they made Ukraine a full member of the JIT, giving it the opportunity to forge evidence and turn the case to its advantage," she said.
On September 26, just two days before interim findings of the international investigation, Russia’s Defense Ministry released what it called new radar data showing that no missile could have been fired from rebel-held territory.
Just before the JIT findings were made public, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told news agencies that Defense Ministry radar data showed “unequivocally” that no missile was fired in rebel-controlled Ukraine.
“There are undeniable facts. In the given case, it is important to make conclusions based on the latest information that has been published, and specifically the primary radar data that identified all flying objects that could have started or been located in the air in the territory controlled by the rebels,” he was quoted as saying by Interfax.
In eastern Ukraine, parts of which the separatists call the Donetsk People’s Republic, rebel Eduard Basurin told Interfax that his forces had "no such air-defense systems" and could not have downed MH17.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
British Man Appears In U.K. Court On Ukraine Terrorism Charges
By RFE/RL
British prosecutors have charged a man with terrorism offenses related to the war between Russia-backed separatists and Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine.
Benjamin Stimson, 41, faces what are believed to be Britain’s first terrorism charges involving offenses allegedly committed in the conflict, which erupted shortly after Russia forcibly annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.
Police in Manchester said in a statement on September 28 that Stimson was charged with two offenses: the intention of committing acts of terrorism and engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to this intention, and the intention of committing acts of terrorism and assisting acts of terrorism.
He was placed in custody and was set to appear in court on October 7.
It was unclear if Stimson had entered a plea, though The Telegraph reported that he had denied any involvement in military action in Ukraine.
British journalist Graham Phillips, who has angered Kyiv with his open support for the separatists while reporting on the conflict, has identified Stimson as a “Donbas militia member,” referring to the eastern Ukrainian region where separatist forces control some territory.
Stimson told Phillips that he traveled to the Donbas region in August 2015 and returned several months later. According to Phillips, Stimson was arrested by counterterrorism police at the Manchester airport in November 2015.
In an October 2015 BBC interview, during which he was shown holding a gun, Stimson said that he “would be prepared to kill people” in the conflict “if my life’s threatened,” according to a YouTube video posted by Phillips:
“I’m not terrorizing any civilians. I see myself as protecting the civilians here," Stimson said in the BBC interview.
In a follow-up interview, Stimson told Phillips that the BBC journalists told him to hold the weapon during the interview.
The BBC did not immediately respond to RFE/RL’s request for comment on Stimson’s assertion.
With reporting by the BBC, The Telegraph, and The Guardian