Dutch-led investigators probing MH17 crash release new phone intercepts with links to Russia:
By Mike Eckel
The Dutch-led team investigating the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine has released new phone intercepts that it said includes recordings of Russian military commanders speaking with separatist fighters and a Kremlin official.
The intercepts were released on November 14 as part of a new push by the Dutch team, known as the Joint Investigative Team (JIT), seeking new witnesses for the crash of MH17, which killed all 283 people on board.
In June, Dutch prosecutors announced that three Russians and one Ukrainian would be put on trial in the Netherlands for their alleged involvement in the incident.
In announcing the charges, prosecutors said there was evidence of a direct line of command between Russian officials and separatists who were fighting in eastern Ukraine and had announced the formation of an unrecognized government called the "Donetsk People's Republic" (DNR).
MH17 was flying between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur when it exploded and crashed in territory in eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian fighters on July 17, 2014.
The JIT has said that a sophisticated antiaircraft missile system known as a Buk was used in the attack, and that the weapon came from Russia.
In a statement accompanying the release of the intercepts, the JIT said it was seeking more witnesses as prosecutors compile more evidence ahead of the trial of the four men, scheduled for March 2020.
"Recent analysis of witness statements and other information revealed that Russian influence on the DPR went beyond military support and that the ties between Russian officials and DPR-leaders appear closer," the team said.
"The intensity of Russian influence is relevant to investigating further persons involved in the downing of MH17. That is why today the JIT releases this new appeal for witnesses," the JIT said.
In the intercepts, which were published on YouTube and date from July 2014, according to the JIT, several men can be heard discussing what appears to be a chain of command.
In one, which the JIT said was placed at the beginning of July 2014, a man who appears to sound like a commander tells another that "men are coming with a mandate from Shoigu" -- a reference to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
In another call dated March 2015, a man whom JIT identified as Leonid Zakharchenko, a military intelligence officer for the separatists, is heard discussing with another man about a third man's potential legal problems.
The conversation repeatedly mentions the name Surkov -- a reference to Vladislav Surkov, a top adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A spokesperson for the JIT did not immediately answer an e-mail from RFE/RL seeking further comment.
Other prominent individuals that JIT said were mentioned in the intercepts include Igor Girkin, a top separatist commander in eastern Ukraine who was among the four charged by Dutch prosecutors, and Sergei Aksyonov, who became the Russian-appointed leader in Crimea after Moscow annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula in March 2014.
Kyiv court frees man jailed for plotting murder of exiled Russian journalist Babchenko:
By RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- A Ukrainian court has released from custody the man convicted of being recruited by Russia’s secret services to organize a plot in 2018 to kill self-exiled Russian reporter and Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko.
The Kyiv regional prosecutor's office told RFE/RL that the Kyiv Appeals Court ruled on November 13 that Borys Herman must be released due to his poor health.
No other details were provided.
Herman was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison by a court in Kyiv on August 30, 2018, after he pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities.
In May 2018, Ukrainian authorities had announced that Babchenko was shot dead outside his Kyiv apartment.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) then shocked reporters and the world, saying that Babchenko was still alive.
The SBU said it thwarted the planned killing by working together with Babchenko to fake his death.
Herman is alleged to have promised $40,000 to a would-be assassin for the killing of Babchenko.
The alleged would-be killer, a former Ukrainian monk and army veteran named Oleksiy Tsymbalyuk, said he went to the SBU after Herman approached him and worked with the agency to foil the plot.
Despite its apparent success, the SBU operation was strongly criticized by media watchdogs, journalists, and others who said it undermined the credibility of journalists and Ukrainian officials.
Babchenko announced earlier this month that he had left Ukraine for Israel because he feared for his safety after the election in April of Volodymyr Zelenskiy as president of Ukraine.
Relations between Moscow and Kyiv have been badly damaged by Russia's seizure of Crimea in 2014 and backing for separatist militants in a devastating war in eastern Ukraine.