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A view of the reconstruction of the MH17 wreckage in Reijen, Netherlands.
Photo:
Pool/Getty Images
Vladimir Putin’s
assault on world order didn’t start with his latest invasion of Ukraine. A timely reminder came last week as a Dutch court found three men guilty of murder for their role in the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 eight years ago.
On July 17, 2014, 298 people died when a Russian-made Buk missile struck the passenger jet over the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Pro-Russian separatists and Russian proxies were fighting to establish the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. Victims included citizens of the U.S., Malaysia, Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Indonesia, the Philippines, Canada, Germany, Italy, Vietnam and Israel. Eighty were children.
A summary of the judgment released Thursday by a court in The Hague put it this way: “The likelihood of persons on board an aircraft surviving an attack by a Buk missile is nil,” but the munition could be fired only if the surface-to-air missile system “is available and is placed on a suitable launch site.”
Russians
Sergey Dubinskiy
and
Igor Girkin
and Ukrainian separatist
Leonid Kharchenko
enabled the transportation and delivery of the missile system to the Donbas from Russia despite the risks, the court found. By performing “such an essential role,” the court held “they may be regarded as co-perpetrators” of the murders.
Thursday’s verdict provides only limited justice. A 2015 report by the Dutch Safety Board had already confirmed after an extensive forensic investigation that a Russian Buk missile was the murder weapon. The court last week handed down life sentences to the three men, but they were tried in absentia and aren’t in European custody.
The free world’s great mistake regarding Russia was doing nothing despite the many signs of Mr. Putin’s marauding ambitions. Ukraine and the world are now paying the price for sleeping amid the gathering storm.
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