MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the Russian ministry, the research was based on unproven data in order to feed certain type of information to the society.
"Bellingcat’s so-called investigative journalism distorts objective facts. The provided information has a clearly anti-Russian stance and is based on false information," the statement reads.
"It is simply astonishing that such dubious materials are taken into account by the joint investigative team, an organization, which officially heads the investigation and claims to be objective and professional," the Russian Defense Ministry added.
Flight MH17 was downed en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board. The local militias and the Kiev-led forces were fighting in the region at the time of the crash, and traded blame for the incident.
