Ukraine rebels deny downing Flight MH17, reject probe findings

A top pro-Russian separatist commander in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday denied Dutch findings blaming the downing of Flight MH17 on a Russian missile fired from rebel-held territory.

"The forces of the People's Republic of Donetsk could not have fired at the plane from a BUK system because we have no such sort of weapons," general Eduard Basurin of the self-proclaimed republic told AFP.

A criminal inquiry in the Netherlands found on Wednesday that the missile that shot the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 out of the sky was snuck out of and back into Russia. The investigators also confirmed that the missile that slammed into the plane was fired from a field in a part of eastern Ukraine under the control of the separatists at the time.

But the Dutch-led investigation did not directly accuse Moscow of supplying the BUK missile and its transporter system -- and the Russian government has repeatedly denied any involvement.

The passenger jet was shot down in July 2014 on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The incident came at the most heated point in the war, straining tensions between the West and Moscow even further.

Russia military question objectivity of MH17 crash probe

Russia's Defence Ministry said the objectivity of the findings of an international investigation into the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine were causing doubts, being based mainly on the Internet and Ukraine's secret services. No Russian air defence systems ever crossed into Ukraine from Russia, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on Wednesday.