Russian ex-spy takes ‘moral responsibility’ for downing MH17

A former Russian intelligence officer has admitted ‘‘moral responsibility’’ for the deaths of hundreds of people on board a passenger jet that was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

All 298 passengers, including

80 children, were killed when a Russian-made Buk missile hit Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

(MH17) as it flew over territory controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists in July 2014. Most of the dead were from the Netherlands, Malaysia and Australia.

Igor Girkin, pictured, a former colonel with Russia’s FSB state security service, led separatist forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region at the time of the disaster. He is one of three Russians and one Ukrainian charged in absentia by international investigators with bringing the Buk anti-aircraft launcher to the war-torn region. The trial opened in the Hague in March with none of the suspects present.

‘‘In as much as I was the commander of the rebels and a participant in the conflict, I feel a moral responsibility for these deaths,’’ Girkin, 49, told The Times . He insisted, however, that the separatist forces under his command ‘‘did not bring down the plane’’.

When asked if his statement could be construed as an admission that the Russian military was to blame, Girkin said: ‘‘People can interpret this as they like.’’ He declined to comment further.

Dutch-led investigators released recordings last year of intercepted telephone calls that they allege could implicate highranking Russian officials in the deployment of the Buk missile system to eastern Ukraine. The recordings allegedly featured Vladislav Surkov, until recently one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest advisers on Ukraine, and Colonel General Andrei Burlaka, the deputy head of the FSB border guards.

Putin, 67, has denied any Russian involvement in the downing of MH17.

Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, said that he did not recognise the International Court of Justice in the Hague and would not willingly testify at the trial. ‘‘I’m not going to play in someone else’s territory by the rules of others and expect any success,’’ he told Gordon, a Ukrainian news website. ‘‘I expect no mercy and no understanding from the enemy.’’

A former combatant in the conflicts in Bosnia and Chechnya, Girkin admitted ordering the killings of four Ukrainian"saboteurs’’ in 2014. He also said that he had executed a separatist fighter for crimes against the local population. He claimed that the executions were legal because they were carried out in accordance with wartime laws established by Joseph Stalin.