Doomed flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine by on-board explosives planted by the CIA and detonated via a signal sent from a satellite in space, according to a bizarre new Russian claim.

Highlighted today by a major pro-Kremlin newspaper, the latest theory accuses the Dutch and Ukrainian secret services of complicity in an attack aimed at embarrassing Moscow.

But the report also appears to admit that a Russian expert working for a shadowy private detective agency with close links to the FSB secret service tampered with crash site evidence the day after the Malaysian Airlines flight was blown out of the sky.

With Dutch-led investigators due to report in October on the crash, there is growing evidence that a Russian-made BUK missile was used to down the Boeing 777, but a number of other versions have emerged from Moscow, of which the bomb on board theory is the latest.

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Carnage: Flight MH17 was shot down on July 17 last year, killing all 298 people on board during heavy fighting between Kiev's armed forces and pro-Russian separatists

This week, Western investigators announced they had found fragments 'probably' from a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile at the crash site where all 298 people on board died on July 17 last year.

But Russian security expert Sergei Sokolov – head of a shadowy organisation called Analytics and Security which boasts close ties to the secret services in Moscow – claimed today that the plane was downed in an operation called 17.17 by the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies.

Former head of security for well-known Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, he told newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda: 'About two months before the tragedy we received information from our agents that a provocation against Russia was being prepared.

'We expected something like this. The day after the tragedy we sent our expert to the scene who gathered wipe-samples and scrape-samples from parts of the plane which were covered with soot.'

The description appears an admission of interfering with the site of a plane crash which is illegal under international law.

Russian security expert Sergei Sokolov (above) – head of a shadowy organisation called Analytics and Security which boasts close ties to the secret services in Moscow – claimed today that the plane was downed in an operation called 17.17 by the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies

'We sent the samples to an expert. The test was done by a high ranking FSB expert. I can't give his name.

'But I can show you the report which proves that the plane was blown up from inside.'

He alleged that one part of a sophisticated explosive device was planted under the control panel in the cockpit.

The other was with luggage on the left side of the aircraft.

'The plane was also equipped with detonators and it is not excluded that they were activated by a signal from a satellite,' he claimed.

Sokolov alleged that at the same time an American plan was underway to shoot a BUK missile at the Boeing from a Ukrainian military placement.

The location was close to rebels who also had a BUK, the intention being for the West to blame the downing of the aircraft on a BUK fired by pro-Russian forces.

In the event, the BUK did not shoot as planned – but the plane was downed instead by the on-board bomb, he alleged.

'The BUK is a complicated weapon, only well trained people can use it,' he said.

'The Ukrainian officers just did not have enough knowledge. But this was in the CIA plan too – if the launch of the missile failed, the plane was doomed to death anyway. '

He claimed that allegedly bugged phone conversations between two 'CIA men', one whose cover was working for the National Democratic Institute in Ukraine, and the other who called himself a journalist for prominent news organisations including the BBC.

Debris: Wreckage from MH17 is pictured in an aircraft hanger in the Netherlands. In a statement, Dutch prosecutors said for the first time that they've found possible parts of a BUK missile system in the wreckage

However, during the calls one of these alleged agents switches from having a distinct British accent to speaking in American Engish with a different voice, casting doubt on the authenticity of the recordings.

A previous Russian version suggesting satellite evidence of a warplane attack on MH17 was widely claimed to have been a fake.

Sokolov claimed these supposed CIA agents were in charge of a sinister operation and it could have been one of them who 'pressed the button which activated the explosives on board - sent by a signal via a satellite'.

Bomb rather than missile damage is 'proved' by the way the plane was torn, he said.

'Surely the Americans influenced the secret services of the Netherlands. It is not possible to mine a plane without cooperation from the secret services of the home country.'

Sokolov insisted the plane with a flight number of 17 was deliberately targeted on 17 July, hence the operation name 17.17.

He likened the attack to the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew, which he also blamed on the CIA.

Passenger plane: The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was blown out of the sky, killing all 298 people on board - two-thirds of them Dutch and many of them children

'Even the schemes of wreckages of both planes are the almost identical,' he said.

'We have forwarded an open letter to UNO Security Council asking to consider all the evidence we have gathered and to organize an impartial investigation at the end. '

He claimed that if his evidence is not considered 'the investigation cannot be called complete'.

Sokolov's organisation Analytics and Security was formerly called Atoll, described as a private security agency.

'In the team there are retired secret service officers and ex military men,' it boasts.

Earlier this year, Sokolov claimed Berezovsky was killed in his bathroom because he was ready handover to Vladimir Putin evidence of a plot involving leading oligarchs to topple the strongman in a coup.

He was slain by Western secret services which were linked to the plan to overthrow the Kremlin leader, he alleged.

Sokolov disputed the version of British police that the ex-billionaire took his own life aged 67 in Berkshire in March 2013.

'I am convinced it was done by the Western secret services,' he said.

'If Berezovsky's death is a puzzle for you, it is a problem solved for me.