Russian arms manufacturer's CEO said images of the area taken at the moment of the disaster from US satellites "would certainly provided a clear answer to the question who is to blame"

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Russia’s weapons manufacturer Almaz-Antei is prepared to stage an experiment at its own expense proving that the Malaysian Airlines’ flight MH17 was downed by a missile launched with a Buk-M1 system, the concern’s CEO Yan Novikov said on Tuesday. "If necessary, we will be prepared to stage a full-scale real-life experiment attended by independent observers and experts," he said. "In other words, we will blow up a 9M38M1 missile placed next to the fuselage of the same manufacturer’s written-off plane at the angles mentioned at this presentation."

"Our presentation has proved that the guided missile that hit the [Malaysian] Boeing in the sky above Ukraine could only be 9M38M1 of the Buk M1 system," Yan Novikov said. "This missile was withdrawn from production in 1999. Therefore, the concern and its companies could have supplied these missiles to no one in the 21st century." Yan Novikov said the arms manufacturer is not in the position to comment who fired the missile. "According to our estimates, the missile was launched from a position near Zaroshchenskoye. The error margin is 1.5 kilometers. We make no comment as to who controlled the area at the moment," he said in reply to a question. "At the same time we have irrefutable evidence this type of missiles is still in service in the Ukrainian armed forces. Back in 2005 the concern conducted pre-contract work on prolonging the service life of these weapons in Ukraine. At that moment there were 991 such missiles there," Novikov said. "We do not dismiss other versions, but if it is true that the Boeing liner was shot down by an air defense missile, the Buk-M1 system and the mentioned rocket were the sole possibility, he said.

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