Comment from Sjoerd de Vries for Russian broadcaster REN TV, an interview with investigative blogger Max van der Werff [@maxvanderwerff] – see article MH17 – Lying for Justice.
At last, some more “tough” questions from Christian Democrat MP Pieter Omtzigt that needs to be answered by Justice minister Ad van der Steur by Monday Feb. 15, 2016. The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) has not delivered any of the primary radar data. Ukraine secret service reacted there are no radar data available, the Russian data wasn’t accepted and the so-called US intelligence satellite images are surrounded by secrecy. Because the DSB investigation has to follow the ICAO rules, the primary radar images should be made public.
Russia Aviation has reacted by publication of their letter to the relatives of victims who died in the Malaysian MH-17 crash in Eastern Ukraine.
○ Official letter on MH17 investigation by top Russian aviation official Oleg Storchevoy
Max van der Werff has done some local investigation in Ukraine to uncover many fallacies of Bellingcat, the politically motivated group of British bloggers. Many early results via social media overview were provided by “US Intelligence” within 48 hours after the crash on July 17, 2014.
○ MH17: US intelligence says Russia ‘created conditions’ for plane disaster | The Guardian |
MH17 Crash Milked to Demonize Russia – Dutch Blogger
Dutch blogger Max van der Werff explained to Sputnik why he decided to carry out his own investigation into the origin of two controversial photos which circulated on social networks shortly after the MH17 crash, purporting to show a trail of smoke in the sky from a missile launcher, and what his inquiry uncovered.
Unlike the majority of people who have either accepted or rejected the authenticity of the two photos that were published online, Dutch blogger Max van der Werff made it all the way to Donbass to see for himself where the photos were allegedly taken.
Investigation into the MH17 disaster
Decision-making about flight paths over conflict areas [pdf]Unauthorized draft version
For information purposes only
Please do not quote from this reportVerbatim report of the videoconferences held by the standing committee on Foreign
Affairs of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands,on Thursday 28 January 2016 in the Tilanuskamer room of the premises of the
House of Representatives in The Hague. Start 18.00 hoursChair: Mr Fred Teeven MP
Present are the members of the House of Representatives Mr Han ten Broeke, Mr Harry van Bommel, Mr Pieter Omtzigt, Mr Michiel Servaes, Mr Sjoerd Sjoerdsma and Mr Fred Teeven, as well as Mr Theo van Toor, clerk of the standing committee on Foreign Affairs.Short abstract of Q&A:
Mr McMillan: I am not sure I know the details of what our friends from Russia have been suggesting. Radar data is normally gathered by the air navigation service provider which has responsibility for the piece of airspace in question. In the case of the Ukraine that would be the Ukrainian operator UkSATSE, which is a state owned entity providing navigation services over the Ukraine. That is a civil military organization. They have access to radar sources from their own radars and also from the military radar in the Ukraine. My understanding of how things normally happen is that the radar data would be kept for a period of time. I do not think that there are very specific guidelines in ICAO, but you need to check that with a more technical expert than myself. Clearly, if there is an incident in the air space you take very great care of retaining the radar data you have, because it is necessary for purposes of investigation and analysis. So you would expect that to be carried on for as long as it is required.
Mr Omtzigt (CDA): Thank you for that clear explanation. You advised us to turn to a specific expert at ICAO. We would like to hear the name of an expert whom we could ask this very specific question. The Dutch Safety Board did not receive data, neither from Russia, nor from Ukraine. Ukraine had said that all primary data was …
Mr McMillan: … inoperable?
Mr Omtzigt (CDA): We think it was inoperable, because we found press statements that the data had been destroyed in an attack, but what they formally said to the DSB was that the cause had been maintenance. So we would like to hear from you the name of a technical expert who could tell us what the guidelines are and whether Ukraine should have communicated this to ICAO or anyone else.