US Won't Disclose MH17 Crash Info If Truth Runs Counter to its Stance - Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with US director Oliver Stone that the United States would never disclose information on the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 passenger plane in eastern Ukraine in 2014, if it went against their position.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 crashed in eastern Ukraine in July 2014 while flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft died in the incident.

"I'm confident that that is exactly the case. But regrettably, there is no proof form the partners that we've received," Putin said, answering a question on whether he believed that the US intelligence had any information regarding the case.

The Russian president added that Washington wanted to put the blame for the catastrophe on the Donbass militia.

"No, that's quite understandable, because we understand their position on Ukraine. And certainly they all wanted to shift the blame on the militia fighters in Donbass and indirectly Russia, who supports the militia… If this information is contrary [to the official position] then they will never reveal it," Putin explained.

The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) tasked with probing the crash announced in September that the MH17 airliner was allegedly downed by a Buk missile system, which was brought from Russia and after the crash returned there. However, Russia's Almaz-Antey concern rejected findings in the probe, saying that three simulations showed that the missile was launched from the Zaroshchens'ke area, controlled by Ukraine's army at the time of the downing.

The president spoke in Russian with the Oscar-winning director for his four-episode documentary dubbed "The Putin Interviews." Translated transcripts of their discussions were released in English as a book on Friday.