Conclusions by German intelligence should force the Australian leader to take back his harsh words regarding Russia’s alleged involvement in the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, a top Russian MP has said.
The head of the State Duma’s Foreign Relations Committee, Aleksey Pushkov, told reporters on Monday that the German intelligence report concerning the the MH17 airliner should force Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to apologize for his promise to “shirtfront” the Russian president on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
Pushkov made his statement soon after the Spiegel magazine published an article claiming that the classified report of the German foreign intelligence service, the BND, blamed local militia in the Donetsk Region for shooting down the Malaysian Boeing. It was claimed militia had used an anti-aircraft missile captured from a Ukrainian military base.
Spiegel added that the BND possessed “ample evidence," to prove this theory, but none of it has been made public.
On Monday, an anonymous member of the Bundestag secret committee for control over the country’s special services confirmed the existence and contents of the report to the BBC.
“The German intelligence report casts doubt on the main theory accepted in the West, the theory that has been voiced by a number of Western politicians and almost all Western mass media. It suggested that it was Russia that allegedly supplied the Donetsk militia with the Buk surface-to-air missile used to down the Malaysian Boeing,” Pushkov told the press.
“The new theory means that Russia has nothing to do with the downed Boeing. And Australian Prime Minister must take back his threats to attack Putin when he arrives in Australia for the G20 summit,” the Russian lawmaker added.
“The Australian politician looks extremely exposed in this situation as he started throwing accusations at Russia and almost charged the Russian president personally, without waiting for official results of the crash investigation,” Pushkov stated.
The Duma foreign affairs chief also noted that the available information about the German intelligence report gave room to suggest that Ukraine might be trying to conceal the real reasons behind the MH17 crash.
“German intelligence is convinced that the photos of the Boeing debris presented by Kiev were forged. It hardly comes as a surprise – Kiev seems to be afraid of the truth,” the MP told reporters.
Representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic have repeatedly denied any involvement in the MH17 disaster.