“Thank you His Excellency Borodai for handing over the black boxes of Flight MH17”

“Thank you, His Excellency Borodai, for handing over [the] black boxes of Flight MH17.” These were the words from a Malaysian delegation of experts; does this indicate to the world who actually rules Eastern Ukraine? After a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Borodai, handed over the two black boxes from the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 Flight MH17 to Malaysian authorities last night.

The PM held a press conference where the Malaysian delegation thanked “His Excellency Alexander Borodai.” There is no doubt that Russia and Alexander Borodai are under extreme pressure from all over the world for their alleged involvement in the downing of MH17, but this tragedy confirmed the fact that there is no writ of the government of Ukraine on Eastern Ukraine, and this area is practically under the control of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Before the MH17 crisis, the United States, European Union, and the government of Ukraine were claiming that there are “some rebels and trouble makers in Eastern Ukraine while this area is under the writ of Kiev government.”

Ukraine also claimed before the MH17 tragedy that “rebels” have made the local population hostages, and the local people are against the rebels, but the arrival of the international media after the MH17 tragedy in this area gives a totally different picture to independent journalists who now know the rules Eastern Ukraine.

In the ceremony of signing documents and handing over the black boxes from MH17, Borodai again claimed that his forces did not shoot down MH17 and blamed the Kiev government, claiming that the Kiev government had “both the technical ability and the motive” to bring down Flight MH17.

Well-protected Separatist leader Borodai

The Malaysian delegation was headed by Colonel Mohamed Sakri who thanked “His Excellency Mr. Borodai” for handing over the black boxes to the Malaysian experts. Borodai had a telephone conversation with the Malaysian Prime Minister and claimed that there was a “deep conspiracy” against his government hatched by NATO countries. According to sources, Borodai while talking to the Malaysian Prime Minister, was of the view that there was no logic for his forces to shoot down MH17 and inviting world pressure without any gains and reasons.

Since the matter is in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Russia (who is being blamed by NATO countries as being partially responsible for shooting down MH17) has released military monitoring data indicating that the Ukraine military jets were tracking the MH17 plane shortly before the crash and after the shooting down of the plane. The credibility of this data has yet to be contested by NATO countries.

Russia released another list of technical questions last night demanding Kiev to answer them:

1. Why did the MH17 plane leave the international corridor? (According to available data, Flight MH17 stayed within the corridor until it reached Donetsk, but then it deviated from the route to the north.)

2. Was MH17 leaving the route a navigation mistake or was the crew following instructions by Ukrainian air traffic controllers in Dnepropetrovsk?

3. Why was a large group of air defense systems deployed to the militia-held area if the self-defense forces have no planes?

4. Why did Kiev deploy a Buk missile system right next to the militia-controlled area straight ahead of the tragedy? (Russia released satellite photos of the places where Ukraine had its air defense units deployed in the southeastern parts of the country.)

5. On the day of the crash, Kiev increased activity on its Kupol-M1 9S18 radars, which are components of the Buk system in the area. Why?

6. What was a military plane doing on the route intended for civilian flights?

7. Why was the military jet flying at almost the same time and the same altitude with a passenger plane?

8. Where did the launcher (from the video circulated by Western media and showing a Buk system being moved allegedly from Ukraine to Russia) come from? As the video was made on the territory controlled by Kiev, where was the launcher being transported?

9. Where is it right now? Why are some of the missiles missing on the launcher? When was the last time a missile was launched from it? (Screenshot from video posted on the Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior account, showing a Buk system supposedly being moved from Ukraine to Russia with two out of three missiles.)

10. Why haven’t US officials revealed the evidence supporting claims that the MH17 was shot down by a missile launched by the militia?

US officials claim they have satellite photographs proving the Malaysian airliner was shot down by a missile launched by the rebel militia but have not released these photographs so far. A US satellite was flying over southeastern Ukraine on July 17 from 1706 to 1721 Moscow time. The presence of a US satellite being present at the same time that MH17 was shot down is an interesting development.

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