Voloshin has denied that he was involved in the loss of MH17

When he returned he was 'scared' saying MH17 was in the wrong place

A'secret witness' say he took off in a combat jet, armed with missiles

This is the first picture of the Ukrainian air force pilot alleged by pro-Russian rebels to have been the 'executioner' of the 298 victims on board doomed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

The Russian Investigative Committee - equivalent of the FBI - is calling for Captain Vladislav Voloshin to take a lie-detector test and face formal questioning, asserting there is compelling evidence against him which should be considered by the Dutch-led official probe.

Believed to be in his late 20s, he was named by stems from a 'secret witness' at his Dnipropetrovsk air base who says the pilot took off in his Su-17 combat jet on 17 July last year armed with air-to-air missiles.

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This is the first picture of the Ukrainian air force pilot alleged by pro-Russian rebels to have been the 'executioner' of the 298 victims on board doomed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17

He returned without them soon after the Boeing 777 was blasted out of the sky, it is alleged.

After landing Voloshin was 'scared', muttering that the incoming 'aircraft' - supposedly MH17 - 'was in the wrong place at the wrong time', according to the unnamed Ukrainian serviceman, now under guard at a secret location in Russia.

The Investigative Committee, headed by Alexander Bastrykin, a former classmate of Vladimir Putin, insists that the witness has passed a polygraph test and his testimony is credible.

The Russian Investigative Committee - equivalent of the FBI - is calling for Captain Vladislav Voloshin to take a lie-detector test and face formal questioning, asserting there is compelling evidence against him which should be considered by the Dutch-led official probe

Volshin has not spoken directly on the loss of MH17 but denied through his superiors that he was responsible. Ukraine blames Russia for a crude propaganda stunt in naming him.

Since the horror, Moscow has repeatedly claimed that MH17 was shot down by a Ukrainian warplane in the skies close to the Malaysian plane, while also vigorously denying the West's analysis that it was hit by a BUK missile fired by pro-Moscow rebels.

The pro-Moscow rebel media in eastern Ukraine has already branded Voloshin as 'the pilot who shot down MH17', showing archive footage of him which it labels 'the future executioner'.

Believed to be in his late 20s, he was named by stems from a 'secret witness' at his Dnipropetrovsk air base who says the pilot took off in his Su-17 combat jet on 17 July last year armed with air-to-air missiles

The Investigative Committee, headed by Alexander Bastrykin, a former classmate of Vladimir Putin, insists that the witness has passed a polygraph test and his testimony is credible

'Let Voloshin take a lie-detector test with Dutch or Malaysian experts,' demanded Investigative Committee's spokesman Vladimir Markin.

'Representatives of the Russian Investigative Committee are ready to leave for Ukraine at short notice with all necessary equipment for testing pilot Voloshin and all others who might know anything about the crash.'

He demanded that the Ukrainian military should make a full disclosure of its flight logs on 17 July, the day MH17 was shot down, and allow Russia to interrogate its air traffic controllers.

Referring to Ukrainian secret services, he said: 'We're waiting for a response from the SBU.'

SBU official Markiyan Lubkivskyi insisted Voloshin was not engaged in combat flights on 17 July, the day MH17 was downed, and had not used weapons against aerial targets in the current conflict.

Voloshin denied he had shot down MH17, and had no idea why the allegation was being taken seriously in Russia

'The officer made no flights that day, and his aircraft was under repair because of damage inflicted during landing on 16 July,' he said, accusing Moscow of a bid to 'discredit' Ukraine.

Voloshin denied he had shot down MH17, and had no idea why the allegation was being taken seriously in Russia, he said.

The pilot has not spoken directly to the media over the incident.

Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, Oleksandr Turchynov, accused Moscow of using propaganda to 'hide the crimes organised by the Russian Federation, including against civilians' in relation to flight MH17.

He said: 'A great deal of evidence, including data from satellite observation, has proved that terrorist groups controlled by the Russian military shot down the passenger aircraft'.

Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, Oleksandr Turchynov, accused Moscow of using propaganda to 'hide the crimes organised by the Russian Federation, including against civilians' in relation to flight MH17

They used 'a Russian BUK surface-to-air-missile system', he said.

But Moscow is now poised to give its 'whistleblower' sanctuary under its witness protection programme, so preventing him being prosecuted in Ukraine, it is understood.

'As the witness may be in danger, investigators are considering providing him with state protection,' said Markin.

He already has a pseudonym 'in the interests of his security'.

'The facts and information that the witness possessed and shared - clearly and without getting confused - convince the investigators that his testimony is truthful, something that, by the way, a polygraph test has confirmed,' said Markin.

Six weeks after the MH17 crash, Voloshin's plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine. He ejected, and escaped from the rebel-held region

He 'personally' saw Voloshin's warplane 'loaded with R-60 type air-to-air missiles, with which Su-25 fighters were not normally equipped'.

His aircraft returned without these missiles.

Markin claimed the account supported other witnesses who testified that 'not long before the crash they saw a warplane in the air in close proximity to the passenger airliner.'

He said that 'the Investigative Committee will continue gathering and analysing all information about the disaster.

'If members of an international commission investigating the crash are indeed interested in finding out the truth and decide to request information from us, we are ready to share all available data.'

He is a graduate of Kharkiv Air Force University.Two days after the crash, he was among a number of airmen awarded the Order of Courage by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko

The crash killed all the 298 people on board the Boeing, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur

Six weeks after the MH17 crash, Voloshin's plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine. He ejected, and escaped from the rebel-held region.

He is a graduate of Kharkiv Air Force University.

Two days after the crash, he was among a number of airmen awarded the Order of Courage by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko.