Russia has been accused of hacking Australian files on the MH17 probe as prosecutors say Moscow’s meddling has cast a ‘dark shadow’ over the trial of four suspects in the disaster.
Moscow had tried to track down witnesses in the trial that started on Monday in the Netherlands, leaving some in fear for their lives in case they were identified, prosecutors said.
Three Russians and a Ukranian are on trial over the 2014 crash of the Malaysia Airlines jet in rebel-held eastern Ukraine with the loss of all 298 people on board, 196 of them Dutch.
The Malaysia Airlines jet was downed over rebel-held eastern Ukraine in 2014 with the loss of all 298 people on board
Igor Girkin (left) and Sergey Dubinsky (right), both Russian ex-intelligence officers, were named by international investigators as two of the men responsible for shooting down MH17
‘There are clear indications that Russian security services are actively attempting to disrupt efforts to establish the truth behind the shooting down of flight MH17,’ prosecutor Thijs Berger told judges.
Russian spies had also tried to hack Malaysian and Dutch authorities investigating the crash, he said.
‘Seen as a whole, this information casts a dark shadow over these proceedings,’ Berger said.
Russian intelligence services likely hacked Australian police files on the MH17 investigation to spread disinformation about the probe, the court also heard.
Oleg Pulatov, a Russian ex-army officer, and Leonid Kharchenko, the Ukrainian commander of separatist rebels in the country’s east, have also been identified
Dutch prosecutors say an Australian Federal Police report about the attack was ‘leaked’ in February on the Bonanza Leaks website, founded by Russian journalist Yana Yerlashova.
Prosecutor Dedy Woei-A-Tsoi told the murder trial that the AFP report was about photos of the Buk-TELAR missile launcher used in the attack.
In that report, Australian officers initially discussed whether the photos were manipulated given suspect metadata dates on the files, but later corroborated their authenticity with the help of video footage.
Woei-A-Tsoi says the website in question selectively published only parts of the report in an bid to spread disinformation.
The trial opened in the absence of the suspects – Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko. Pulatov is the only one represented by a lawyer and he denies all involvement.
The trial of four suspects – three Russians and a Ukrainian – opened in the Netherlands on Monday
International investigators say the Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile, fired from territory held by pro-Moscow rebels battling Kiev.
Relatives of those who died have repeatedly called for the trial to examine the role of Russia in the crash.
‘The court has made it crystal clear that the Russian government is staging a campaign of disinformation,’ Anton Kotte, a board member of a foundation for MH17 victims, said Tuesday.
‘And we will have to be prepared for much more distortion of the truth as the case proceeds.’ Kotte lost his son, daughter-in-law and grandson.
Anton Kotte, of the MH17 Aircraft Disaster Foundation, lost his son, his daughter-law and his grandson in the disaster
Wilbert Paulissen, national Police chief of the Netherlands, announces the murder charges against three Russians and one Ukrainian over the shoot-down of MH17 last year
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the crash of MH17, or in eastern Ukraine generally.
Pulatov’s defence lawyer rejected the prosecutor’s ‘sharp’ comments, saying the remarks on witness safety were ‘not only premature, but highly public’.
‘I wonder why the Dutch authorities at the same time when it suits them, ask for the cooperation of the Russian Federation,’ lawyer Boudewijn van Eijck said.
Prosecutors have said Russia was trying to trace potential witnesses in the trial, some of whom will testify anonymously.
‘The use of Russian security services to discover the identify of witnesses in this investigation is a very real scenario,’ Berger added.
‘Several witnesses in this investigation say that they fear for their lives if their identities were to come to light.
The prosecutors added that Russian security services were already ‘accused of multiple murders that have been committed in various European countries’.
The reconstructed wreckage of the MH17 airplane is seen after the presentation of the final report into the crash
In the Australian report Australian officers initially discussed whether the photos were manipulated given suspect metadata dates on the files, but later corroborated their authenticity with the help of video footage.
Woei-A-Tsoi says the website in question selectively published only parts of the report in an bid to spread disinformation.
‘Parts of the report that confirm the authenticity of a video were not published,’ she told the court in Schiphol, the Netherlands, on Tuesday.
‘This website’s goal is therefore not to share information in a responsible, journalistic manner, but rather to spread disinformation.’
The prosecutor said none of the five Joint Investigation Team members – Australia, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine – had found any leakers.
She said the Russian military intelligence, the GRU, tried to hack the Malaysian police and attorney-general’s office and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ offices in the Netherlands to obtain information about the case.
International investigators say the Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile, fired from territory held by pro-Moscow rebels battling Kiev
‘Given these circumstances, we must take into account the possibility that the published (AFP) documents were obtained following a successful GRU hacking operation in one of the four JIT countries mentioned above,’ Woei-A-Tsoi said in her statement to the court.
AFP Detective-Superintendent David Nelson confirmed the AFP and the wider JIT had stepped up IT security since the documents were released.
‘We’ve all considered our own systems and taken the necessary steps,’ he said.
Det-Supt Nelson said the incident was the only known unauthorised release of documents about the investigation.
‘I don’t wish to comment too much further on what the (Dutch) Prosecution Service said other than to say that (the disinformation campaign) is not helpful for the next of kin, I don’t think it assists their grieving and ability to follow the trial and know what the facts are,’ he said.
Special protection had been given to one witness, who was willing to be named later in the proceedings but was remaining anonymous for now given the security concerns, prosecutors said.
All four men were fighting for Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine when MH17 was shot down, investigators say, despite Russia insisting the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces (pictured, a pro-Russia separatist near a part of the plane)
Only referred to as M58 at this stage, the witness was a Russian volunteer attached to a separatist unit close to the BUK when it was launched on the day MH17 was shot down.
The witness had testified that Russian military personnel – whom separatists said were from Russia’s FSB security agency – were with the missile at the launch site, they added.
‘Once it became clear in the following hours that it was not a military aircraft but civilian flight, MH17, the disinformation campaign started immediately,’ prosecutor Dedy Woei-a-Tsoi said.
Another witness identified only as S24 had ‘expressed a fear of reprisals by the Russian Federation’. And a third, known as V9, had asked to remain anonymous because ‘I might get picked up by Russian special services,’ the prosecution added.
The case was adjourned for two weeks and will resume on 23 March.