This article has been updated with the context information including reaction of the Dutch government, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and UK Defense Secretary.
While investigators from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) pledged to "meticulously study" the information presented by the Russian authorities as soon as it is made available to the JIT, the government officials' reactions were brief, with the Dutch government saying they had "taken notice" of the publications covering the Russian Defense Ministry briefing and UK Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson immediately rejecting Moscow's findings as "another example of Russian disinformation."
READ MORE: Russian Military Reveals Evidence Proving Ukraine's Involvement in MH17 Crash
The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday presented declassified files on the Buk missile that hit flight MH17 in 2014, showing that the missile was made at Russia's Dolgoprudny Plant in 1986, delivered to a military unit in Ukraine, where it remained after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
"We are unfortunately living in a propaganda era when media and the Western establishment are trying to discredit any information coming from Russia. The team that investigates the plane’s downing will be obliged to take into account this new information released by the Russian authorities but the international community will remain silent. They prefer not to speak on a topic where they were wrong. They are and will remain totally silent on a subject. Their silence proves that this information is true and credible," the official said.
"The organization of the Ukrainian army at that time was very hectic. There were groups that were not under the center’s [Kiev's] control. I also believe that there would be no benefit for Russia in bringing down a civilian airplane. I also always doubted that it was brought down by Donbas separatists because shooting such a missile requires some training and organization," he said.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed on July 17, 2014 in eastern Ukraine, while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, leaving no survivors. Kiev and self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine’s southeast have blamed each other for the tragic incident.
READ MORE: ‘Ukrainian Authorities Deliberately Sent MH17 Airliner Into Warzone' — Historian
The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) concluded that the plane was brought down by a missile which came from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, based near Russia's Kursk. The Russian side has refuted the conclusions as groundless and called the investigation biased.
