Russian spy chief linked to MH17
Allegations that Russia was behind the shooting down of a passenger jet over Ukraine in 2014 were given new life yesterday with the identification of a high-ranking FSB officer as a potential suspect.
The officer with the Federal Security Service, who is fourth in the chain of command below President Vladimir Putin, was named as a key person of interest in the attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, killing 298 people.
Colonel-General Andrei Burlaka, pictured, deputy head of the FSB border guards, allegedly controlled the flow of weapons from Russia into Ukraine at the time of attack. According to leaked travel records, he was in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border when the airliner was shot down with a
Buk missile on July 17,
2014. He arrived on July
15 and left on July 18. Burlaka, 54, is the highest-ranking Russian official so far identified as a possible person of interest in the investigation
A man referred to as ‘‘Vladimir Ivanovich’’ was mentioned frequently in telephone intercepts between rebel commanders and Russian officials that were made public in November by the team. The calls suggested he played a critical role in the chain of command between separatists in eastern Ukraine and the Russian government, consolidating FSB control over delivery of arms to the rebels.
He communicated directly with rebel leaders and received calls from militia co-ordinators requesting equipment. The investigators have appealed for help in identifying the mystery figure.
The Bellingcat investigative website and its Russian partner, The Insider, said yesterday they had confirmed that ‘‘Vladimir Ivanovich’’ was Burlaka. They used leaked telephone records, facial-recognition technology and voice sample comparisons.
Given the FSB commander’s co-ordinating role with weapons, ‘‘it would be impossible that a large cluster of military equipment – a Buk missile launcher and accompanying vehicles – would have been able to cross the border in the morning hours of 17 July’’ without his direct authorisation, Bellingcat concluded.
A separate investigation by the BBC’s Russian Service, also published yesterday, came to the same conclusion about Burlaka’s identity. It also said that he had been in Rostov-on-Don on the day the Boeing was shot down.
His exposure bolsters accusations of Russian state involvement in shooting down the jet over territory controlled by proMoscow rebels. Burlaka is second-in-command to a deputy director of the FSB, which answers directly to Putin.
The investigative team, with representatives from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, said in 2018 that a Buk missile fired from a launcher from the Russian army’s 53rd anti-aircraft brigade shot down the jet.
Last year the team played a telephone intercept of Vladislav Surkov, Putin’s key operator on the Ukraine conflict, talking to a rebel leader about Russia providing military support to the separatists six days before the airliner was hit.
In another intercept, Girkin could be heard pleading with Sergei Aksenov, the leader of Russian-annexed Crimea, and one of his aides for supplies of weaponry, including anti-aircraft batteries. It is believed that MH17 was shot down by mistake.
Soon after the plane had disappeared from radars a social media account possibly associated with Girkin announced that a Ukrainian transport plane had been shot down at the same location. ‘‘We warned you, stay away from our skies,’’ it said.
Girkin has always denied that the rebels were to blame but has not exonerated Russia, hinting that the launcher may have been crewed by Russians. Bellingcat said it had identified Burlaka using phone data-sharing apps and a database of hacked text messages from a staff member of a rebel politician.
It then compared voice samples from television interviews with intercepted call of ‘‘Vladimir Ivanovich’’.
Russia denies any role in the MH17 missile strike.