The shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014, over war-torn eastern Ukraine killed 298 people en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. To this day, no one has been held to account--but investigators are making headway. Russia's fingerprints are all over the crime, and it has behaved disgracefully in the face of the evidence.
A multi-nation criminal inquiry, led by the Dutch, declared last week that the surface-to-air missile that destroyed the plane was fired by a launcher based at a Russian military unit.
On Thursday, the Dutch-led inquiry, also involving Australia, Belgium, Ukraine and Malaysia, reported that the BUK missile and launcher originated from Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit based in Kursk.
The investigations are not complete; it is still not known precisely who fired the missile. But the gumshoes are getting closer. What the disaster shows clearly is the extent to which Russia will use deception and disinformation to duck responsibility for its actions. These methods must not be allowed to confound the airplane investigation. Nor can they be permitted to corrode open societies that value truth and the rule of law.
Editorial on 05/30/2018