How Malaysian military secretly traveled to 'DPR' for flight recorders

Another Russian propaganda film about the MH17 tragedy will be shown in the Netherlands on the evening of October 23. The presentation of a new "movie" titled "Call for Justice" will take place in The Hague. The 28-minute film can already be watched on the Internet.

Among those starring are "Khmuriy," that is, Sergey Dubinsky, who the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on June 19, 2019 formally named one of the four MH17 disaster perpetrators; Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who does not acknowledge the results of the official investigation and does not believe in Russia's involvement in the tragedy; Malaysian Colonel Mohamad Sakri, who tells how he secretly traveled to "DPR" for flight recorders to prevent them from being received by Ukraine and the United States.

The event is organized by the Global Rights of Peaceful People. A similar event took place in Kuala Lumpur on August 17, 2019 during the conference "MH17: The Quest for Justice," where other "alternative theories" of the MH17 investigation were presented.

HELLO! HELLO! IN TOUCH WITH "KHMURIY"

The authors of the movie - Russian journalist Yana Yerlashova and Dutch blogger Max van der Werff - position themselves as independent investigative journalists. They raised money for their 28-minute movie on Kickstarter (a global crowdfunding platform), but at the time of the start of the fundraising campaign, Yerlashova was still working for RT (Russia Today). There, she, incidentally, produced two documentaries about the plane allegedly shot down by a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter. She tried to prove impossible - as if the Su-25, actually a flying tank, miraculously managed to bring down the MH17. The main task of both films in any manner, even the fantastic one, is to question the results of an official investigation by the International Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

Max van der Werff also does not admit that MH17 was downed by the Russian Buk. He has repeatedly given interviews to separatist media outlets and, positioning himself as an independent researcher, told stories of the tragedy.

This couple easily managed to visit the site of the tragedy that occurred on July 17, 2014 and took the lives of 298 people. The militants gladly contact them. In the third film, Yerlashova simply speaks on the phone with Russian Sergey Dubinsky, nicknamed "Khmuriy," a suspect in the MH17 tragedy. In 2014, he was subordinate to another person involved in the downing of MH17 - Igor Girkin (Strelkov), who described himself as "DPR minister of defense." Dubinsky headed the military intelligence of the so-called "DPR." He is considered to be involved in transporting a Buk missile system. One of the intercepted conversations between the two suspects about the downed plane was made public by Ukraine's SBU Security Service. Yerlashova simply called Dubinsky to ask him about the recordings of 2014, and he, being on the international wanted list in the MH17 case, picked up the phone and agreed to talk to her:

Yerlashova: SBU claims that the phone taps they published took place on July 17. Is it true?

Dubinsky: At least the conversation with Botsman, where I say that we shot down a Su-25, and I am in Stepanivka, this conversation took place earlier, on the 16th. And in the morning of the 17th, I was already in Donetsk.

Yerlashova: Is there a way to prove this?

Dubinsky: Well, of course, this can be confirmed by the great Ukrainian Security Service that has the billing of my phone.

Yerlashova: So in the conversation they published, it's your voice there, right?

Dubinsky: Yes, the voice is mine.

Yerlashova: So, it's your voice. The conversation took place, but on a different date. What else?

Dubinsky: Well, they edited the whole a lot.

The shooting took place in Malaysia. After speaking with Khmuriy, Yerlashova headed to Malaysian experts, who, of course, said that the phone tapes published by the SBU were edited.

"I can say there is a difference in the noise. And I also can see they are basically some kind of a merging of audio," says Malaysian expert Akash Rosen of OG IT Forensic Services.

An opinion of another expert, from Germany, is given for the balance.

"I found a total of nine manipulations. There is a lot of editing here," says Norman Ritter.

During the phone call with Yerlashova, Khmuriy also asserts that he is not involved in the tragedy, but learned about the plane crash from the so-called "DPR prime minister." He also says that two flight recorders were brought to him from the scene of the tragedy and he handed them to Borodai.

HUNT FOR FLIGHT RECORDERS

Malaysia, in order to receive the flight recorders", secretly sent its representatives to the territory of the so-called "DPR". Malaysians were amicably received, and on July 22, 2014, in front of cameras, so-called "DPR prime minister" Alexander Borodai in Donetsk handed over the flight recorders to Malaysian envoy Colonel Mohamad Sakri, who also recalls that day in the "movie."

"There was a blessing from Mr. Borodai to Malaysia. They were no conditions at all. They just gave us the opportunity to take away the 'black boxes'," says Sakri.

He also said that the OSCE SMM had asked to be given the flight recorders, and after the refusal, in Kharkiv, he was approached by FBI representatives who also wanted to get the "black boxes."

In the movie, Sakri brags about how he and a team of 11 people managed to conduct a covert operation and be the first to get the flight recorders.

However, they had no right to do so without Ukraine's permission because, in fact, it would be a direct violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and international law.

He went to the scene of the tragedy at the direct request of then Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was arrested in Malaysia last year for corruption, in particular, due to the disappearance of billions of U.S. dollars from the state fund, money laundering and abuse of office.

MALAYSIA'S ROLE IN THE INVESTIGATION

The JIT consists of five countries: Ukraine, the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, and Malaysia. After four suspects in the shooting down of the Boeing were named, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad made shocking statements that he has doubts about the objectivity of the Netherlands-led investigation into the tragedy and sees no convincing evidence that Russia has to blame for the crash.

Of course, he said the same thing in the film during a meeting with Russian journalist Yana Yerlashova.

"They have already decided that it must be Russia. We cannot accept that kind of attitude," says the Malaysian prime minister.

In the Netherlands, Max van der Werff tried to arrange an interview with Dutch chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke, but he received the refusal.

Yerlashova stresses that Malaysia did not immediately join the JIT.

The Malaysian prime minister, in turn, is outraged that this is unfair and unusual, saying "the plane is ours [Malaysian], and there were Malaysians flying in the plane, they also died. So, it's natural that Malaysia should be the first country that should be involved in the investigation," Mohamad said.

Forty-four Malaysians were killed aboard the plane. Not allowing Malaysia to join the investigation, especially given that the aircraft was Malaysian, would be strange - there would be questions about the objectivity of the investigation. So, in fact, nobody ignored Malaysia. The JIT was formed on August 7, 2014. It included representatives from Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Australia. Representatives of Malaysia joined on December 4, 2014, because the country itself had no desire to do so earlier, despite the invitation of all states whose citizens died in the disaster. Subsequently, Malaysia still decided to join the JIT. It is worth noting that the flight recorders were also transferred to international investigators and studied by experts.

However, despite statements by the Malaysian prime minister, all the findings released were supported and acknowledged by all parties involved in the investigation, including Malaysia.

They were also recognized by relatives of the flight MH17 victims. They are outraged by repeated statements by the Malaysian prime minister, who doubts that Russia is behind the tragedy.

They also consider a new movie "Call for Justice" a real "slap in the face." People who lost their loved ones have already called the movie untrue and therefore are not going to attend its screening.

Iryna Drabok, The Hague