ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

In 2014, Malaysia Airways Flight 17 was shot down over Japanese Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew. It was a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, downed over an space managed by Russian-backed separatists. Investigations have proven that the airplane was introduced down by a missile provided by the Russian army. Now, investigators say Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally chargeable for the choice to provide it. NPR’s Tim Mak was at The Hague this week for that announcement. Hello, Tim.

TIM MAK, BYLINE: Hey there.

SHAPIRO: The investigation’s been occurring for years. What has it uncovered?

MAK: So the investigation staff is led by the Netherlands, and it is supported by investigators from Malaysia, Ukraine, Australia, Belgium – all nations which had victims from the flight. The investigators discovered the sort of missile that was used to carry the flight down, the place it was launched from and the missile system – and the truth that the missile system was returned to Russia afterwards. Now, a Dutch court docket has already sentenced three males to life in jail in absentia for his or her roles within the downing of the flight. However this week, the investigation staff mentioned their probe has stalled after 8 1/2 years. They could not determine the precise troopers that fired what are known as BUK-TELAR missiles. That is the system that took down the airplane. I requested Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer why.

DIGNA VAN BOETZELAER: For battle crimes, you must know – we’ve got to know extra about what occurred in that BUK-TELAR. What was the order? What did they find out about their goal? How was the knowledge? And since we would not have the crew, we have no idea that.

MAK: The reply to these questions, the investigators say, are in Russia. And the Russian authorities has declined to cooperate with these investigators, to not point out has beforehand denied having any involvement.

SHAPIRO: Properly, what did investigators say about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s function particularly?

MAK: Properly, they held what could possibly be their ultimate press convention this week at The Hague. They usually launched a brand new piece of knowledge, this time implicating Vladimir Putin personally. They mentioned they’d a cellphone name intercept from 2014 that indicated that Putin personally permitted the supply of the missile system used to shoot down the industrial flight. That decision reveals a Russian official alluding to Putin, investigators say, and asserting that solely Putin personally would have the ability to decide as vital as transferring highly effective anti-aircraft programs to the Russian-backed separatists in japanese Ukraine. They usually additionally performed a second intercepted cellphone name that included Putin himself.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Talking Russian).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Talking Russian).

PUTIN: (Talking Russian).

MAK: It reveals Putin getting briefed by a pro-Russian separatist in 2017. That is three years after the downing of MH17. That is the flight that we’re speaking about. It illustrates how intimately concerned Putin was within the battle and all its particulars. Now, investigators clearly needed to place all this data within the public document. However they admit two issues – that the present proof doesn’t attain the excessive bar essential to prosecute anybody else and that Putin himself has authorized immunity beneath Dutch regulation as a result of he is a sitting head of state.

SHAPIRO: Properly, how are households of victims reacting to those developments?

MAK: Properly, clearly, there’s some frustration that the investigation is now stalled. I spoke to Pete Plug about this. His brother, his brother’s spouse and his nephew had been on the airplane. He mentioned he was shocked about how vital a job Putin had performed within the shootdown personally.

PETE PLUG: He all the time denied any accountability. He all the time denied that they had been current in Ukraine. He lied. He lied. He lied. However now we heard and we noticed it within the taped dialog that he completely was concerned in what occurs in Ukraine.

MAK: Plug mentioned that having the reality out about Putin – about these chargeable for the killing of his brother was virtually as vital as extra prosecutions. He mentioned he needs Putin to confess Russia was accountable, that the admission itself would assist give him and different victims’ households closure.

SHAPIRO: NPR investigative correspondent Tim Mak at The Hague. Thanks.

MAK: Thanks a lot.

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