US Experts Called Almaz-Antey Analysis on MH17 Most Realistic, Russian Suspect's Defense Says

PARIS (Sputnik) - A group of US experts has come to the conclusion that calculation made by Russia's Almaz-Antey Corporation regarding the crash of MH17 in eastern Ukraine has the best match to the damage detected among the plane's wreckage, the defense team of Russian suspect Oleg Pulatov said on Wednesday.

According to lawyer Sabine ten Doesschate, experts from the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Center, the Belgian Royal Military Academy and Almaz-Antey had different conclusions about where the missile that downed the plane was launched. Because of that, the defense team decided to consult with a group of experienced US specialists.

"The US experts have concluded that the Almaz-Antey calculations in the MH17 case have the best correspondence to the nature of the damage of all available plane debris," ten Doesschate said.

Flight MH17 of Malaysia Airlines crashed on 17 July 2014, in eastern Ukraine while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people on board, mostly Dutch citizens, were killed. Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbass region, where the plane was shot down, have blamed each other for the incident.

The investigation into the MH17 crash was conducted by Dutch prosecutors and the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT). The international group of investigators claims that the plane was downed by a Buk missile belonging to the Russian armed forces, something Moscow denies.

Russia was excluded from the joint probe, but conducted its own investigation and said it had provided the JIT with evidence, including radar data, showing that the plane had been shot down by a Ukrainian Buk missile.

The trial of four suspects in the case — Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Pulatov, as well as Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko — is taking place at the Schiphol judicial complex near Amsterdam.