Moscow is ‘murdering troops who shot down Flight MH17’

BY CHRIS HUGHES Defence and Security Editor RUSSIA has murdered some of the troops involved in its downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 to silence them, an ex-spy chief claims.

Ukraine politician Mykola Malomuzh also said others fear for their lives as the Kremlin scrambles to cover its tracks over the 2014 atrocity. A Dutch-led probe into the Boeing 777 crash found a Buk missile hit it over Ukraine.

Chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said: “The Buk used came from the Russian army, the 53rd brigade.”

Grieving relatives have appealed to President Vladimir Putin to come clean about the horror in which 298 people died,

Malomuzh including 10 Britons. But Malomuzh warned that Moscow will not hand over the “culprits or witnesses”, whose “lives are in danger”. He added: “There are even reports that several of these people have been killed – or have died.” Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was “an example of the Kremlin’s disregard for innocent life”. He added: “The [Kremlin)] must now answer for its actions in relation to the downing of MH17.”

Russia’s exiled former deputy premier Alfred Kokh said: “The cautious Dutch finally decided to say what had been clear for a good while – the Boeing was knocked down by Russian military people.

“In other words – by Putin.”