MH17 Flight Crashed Within Ukrainian Missile Systems Firing Range (Russian Military)

The Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed within the operating zone of the Ukrainian army’s self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air Buk missile systems, the Russian military said Monday.
"The flight scheme indicates that the plane’s route and possible point of destruction fall into the operational range of Buk air defense systems deployed by the Ukrainian armed forces,” Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the Main Operations Directorate of the HQ of Russia’s military forces, said during a media conference in Moscow.

The Russian military published some of the data gathered as part of the probe into the July 17 Boeing crash during the briefing.

Russian monitoring systems detected up to four Ukrainian Buk M1 air defense systems in the crash area on the day of the accident, the Russian general said.
“Why would the Ukrainian military deploy this weaponry…if, as we all know, the armed militia [in eastern Ukraine] does not have aircraft?” the general queried.

Kartapolov also said the intensity of Ukrainian air defense system radar stations increased dramatically on the day of the MH17 crash.........http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140721/191082525/MH17-Flight-Crashed-Within-Ukrainian-Missile-Systems-Firing.html
21/7/14
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Related:

• Malaysian jet 'shot down' over Ukraine (with 295 people on board)

• Moscow Surprised by Countries Voicing Theories on Boeing Crash Before Investigation (Russian FM)

Moscow Surprised by Countries Voicing Theories on Boeing Crash Before Investigation (Russian FM)

Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday it was baffled by several countries imposing pressure on investigators by voicing their theories about the causes of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 crash in eastern Ukraine.

"It is baffling that even before the start of the investigation, official representatives of a range of countries rushed to groundlessly announce their theories on the causes of the accident, thus putting pressure on the investigation process. The Russian side addresses both sides of the Ukrainian conflict with an urgent call to do everything possible for the access of international experts to the area of the plane crash to carry out all the actions necessary to investigate the mentioned air crash," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry underlined that Russia was the first to call for an independent and transparent investigation into the cause of the crash, with an international format that would allow avoiding unilateral evaluations.

"It [the investigation] must be international and conducted with the decisive participation of ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organization], and other international institutions, including the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), which involves Russian and Ukrainian representatives along with others," said in the statement....................http://en.ria.ru/politics/20140719/191039845/Moscow-Surprised-by-Countries-Voicing-Theories-on-Boeing-Crash.html
19/7/14
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• Malaysian jet 'shot down' over Ukraine (with 295 people on board)

Malaysian jet 'shot down' over Ukraine (with 295 people on board)

A Malaysian airliner was brought down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in which Russia and the West back opposing sides.
Ukraine accused "terrorists" - fighters aiming to unite eastern Ukraine with Russia - of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with a heavy, Soviet-era SA-11 ground-to-air missile as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Leaders of the rebel Donetsk People's Republic denied any involvement, although around the same time their military commander said his forces had downed a much smaller Ukrainian transport plane. It would be their third such kill this week.


Journalists saw burning and charred wreckage bearing the red and blue Malaysia insignia and dozens of bodies strewn in fields near the village of Hrabove, 40km from the Russian border near the rebel-held regional capital of Donetsk.
Al Jazeera's Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said the plane fell in an area controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
"The investigation would be very difficult given that it's controlled by the rebels," he said. "Ukrainian officials are saying that many children were dead. Some are saying that all died. Reuters is reporting that body parts were found at the scene. It seems that it was a very gruesome scene."
Despite the shooting down of several Ukrainian military aircraft in the area in recent months, including two this week, and renewed accusations from Kiev that Russian forces were taking a direct part, international air lanes had remained open.
Dutch news channel RTL said at least 76 Dutch citizens were aboard the aircraft. A Ukrainian official said there were 23 US citizens. France said at least four of its citizens were on board.

Wreckage and bodies
Malaysia Airlines said air traffic controllers lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 GMT as it flew over eastern Ukraine towards the Russian border, bound for Asia with 280 passengers and 15 crew aboard.
Flight tracking data indicated it was at its cruising altitude of 33,000 feet when it disappeared.
That would be beyond the range of smaller rockets used by the rebels to bring down helicopters and other low-flying Ukrainian military aircraft - but not of the SA-11 system which a Ukrainian official accused Russia of supplying to the rebels.

"I was working in the field on my tractor when I heard the sound of a plane and then a bang," one local man at told Reuters news agency at Hrabove, known in Russian as Grabovo.
"Then I saw the plane hit the ground and break in two. There was thick black smoke."
An emergency worker said at least 100 bodies had been found so far and that debris was spread over 15 km. People were scouring the area for the black box flight recorders and separatists were later quoted as saying they had found one.
"MH17 is not an incident or catastrophe, it is a terrorist attack," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted. He has stepped up his military campaign against the rebels since a ceasefire late last month failed to produce any negotiations.
Russia, which Western powers accuse of trying to destabilise Ukraine to maintain influence over its old Soviet empire, has accused Kiev's leaders of mounting a fascist coup.
It says it is holding troops in readiness to protect Russian-speakers in the east - the same rationale it used for taking over Crimea.

• Ukrainian Interior Ministry official Anton Gerashchenko said on Facebook: "Just now, over Torez, terrorists using a Buk anti-aircraft system kindly given to them by Putin have shot down a civilian airliner flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur."

The Buk is a 1970s vintage, truck-mounted, radar-guided missile system, codenamed SA-11 Gadfly by Cold War NATO adversaries. It fires a 5.7-metre, 55-kg missiles for up to 28km...............http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/07/report-malaysian-jet-crashes-near-ukraine-2014717151147473508.html
17/7/14
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Russia in Continued Military Overhaul (Putin)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday it was his government’s priority to defend the nation against potential military threats, with the help of improved armed forces.

“We are bringing [the military] to a whole new level to keep it on par with the requirements of the 21st century,” Putin said in a speech to military academy graduates in the Kremlin.

“It’s evident that only a mobile, highly effective army and fleet are capable of solving the strategic task of securing Russia’s safety, sovereignty and national interests. The main goal is to defend our citizens against potential military threats,” Putin said.

The Russian president vowed to continue surprise checks in the military, saying no unit, including peacekeeping forces, would be exempt from unannounced inspections.

Putin pointed out a sharp increase in military spending, which has resulted in higher basic pay and better social protection for army personnel.

“Military personnel are being provided with housing. Starting this year, accommodation is being distributed according to a plan, we are arranging mortgage subsidies and perfecting the accumulative mortgage system,” the president said.

On Monday, peacekeeping troops in central Russia were alerted to a spot check, which came as part of a comprehensive inspection of Central Military District forces ordered by President Putin.

The tests are to run from June 21 to June 28, with progress and completion reports provided daily. The combat readiness checks are to cover about 65,000 troops of all branches of the armed forces. The checks also involve over 180 aircraft, 60 helicopters and more than 5,500 units of weaponry and military equipment.
[MOSCOW, June 26 (RIA Novosti)]

Russia Activates Aerospace Defense Radar Aimed at Europe.

MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has begun testing a new radar designed to detect highly maneuverable aerial targets – including cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles – at a range of up to 3,000 kilometers (over 1,800 miles), allowing it to cover most of Europe.

The new-generation over-the-horizon radar, dubbed Container, was put on trial duty near the town of Kovylkino in Russia’s republic of Mordovia on December 2.


According to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the radar will allow Russia to expand its monitoring range and control over the situation “to the west.”

“I am ordering the commander of the Aerospace Defense Forces [Maj. Gen. Alexander Golovko] and other related command structures to ensure that the new radar becomes fully operational by the end of 2015,” Shoigu said at a Defense Ministry meeting Monday.

The deployed Container radar is part of the 590th separate radio-technical unit, which includes a command post, a transmission and reception antenna and a communications and data-management unit.

Russia is planning to deploy a network of Container-type radars to provide early detection of airborne threats over its entire territory and beyond its borders. Specific dates, the number of radar stations, their location and other details have not been disclosed.
ria.ru
9/12/13

US Starts Transfer of its Airbase in Kyrgyzstan. -Hagel thanked Romania for its decision to host the U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system.

MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) – The United States has started the withdrawal from an airbase in Kyrgyzstan that serves as the main transit hub for NATO forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday.
In 2011, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev announced plans to shut the base down by 2014, when the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is to be pulled out of Afghanistan.
He signed a bill ordering the closure of the base into law in June. It stipulates that US forces must abandon the base at Manas International Airport, near the capital Bishkek, by July 2014.

“The Department of Defense has begun the process of relocating from the Transit Center at Manas International Airport (TCM) and plans to complete the transfer of areas and facilities to the Government of Kyrgyzstan by July 2014,” the statement reads.“Working closely with Kyrgyzstan over the next nine months, the U.S. will manage the TCM relocation effort while continuing to support the International Security Assistance Force mission,” the Department of Defense said.
Pentagon spokesman George Little told the media that U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa agreed during their meeting on Friday that US military cargo and personnel going to and from Afghanistan by air will be hauled via Romania after the closure of Manas.Secretary Hagel and Minister Dusa finalized an agreement for Romania to support logistics into and out of Afghanistan, including both personnel and cargo movement,” Little said.

• Little said Hagel also thanked Romania for its decision to host the U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system due to be ready in 2015.

en.ria.ru19/10/13---------------------------------------------------------

• US, Romania agree on air base rights....

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. and Romania have reached an agreement to allow American troops and cargo to use the Black Sea air base of Mihail Kogalniceanu as a transport hub as they move in and out of Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel finalized the agreement in a meeting with Romania's Defense Minister Mircea Dusa on Friday. The Romania base is critical because beginning next June the U.S. will no longer be able to use the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan. Lawmakers there voted to end the agreement. That complicated matters for the U.S. as it brings thousands of troops out of Afghanistan over the next year.

Romania has also agreed to host an Aegis radar as part of the broader European missile defense system meant to protect against possible Iranian missile attacks.

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/18/5833321/us-romania-agree-on-air-base-rights.html#storylink=cpy
18/10/13-------------------------------------------------

• Pentagon shifting logistics hub to Romania from Kyrgyzstan...

Finding a new location for the Afghanistan air logistics center was important because the Kyrgyz government has asked the United States to leave Manas by July 2014.

The Pentagon said on Friday it has begun shifting its Afghanistan air logistics hub to a base in Romania and will complete the transition from Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan by the time its contract for that facility expires in July 2014.

The announcement of the decision to shift the operations to Forward Operating Site Mihail Kogalniceanu in eastern Romania followed a visit to the Pentagon on Friday by Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa.

U.S. forces have used the site, located on the Black Sea, since 1999. An agreement between the United States and Romania in 2005 allowed Washington to use several bases, including Mihail Kogalniceanu, for training, storing equipment and deployments.

Finding a new location for the Afghanistan air logistics center was important because the Kyrgyz government has asked the United States to leave Manas by July 2014 and U.S. forces are in the midst of shipping home equipment after 12 years of war.

The Pentagon said in a statement that "the U.S. appreciates the support provided by the Kyrgyz people" to U.S. and coalition forces fighting in Afghanistan and "respects the decision of the government" to stop hosting the facility after a dozen years.

U.S. and Romanian defense ties have been growing. They include the construction of a land-based Aegis missile defense system as part of President Barack Obama's European ballistic missile defense program, which aims to protect against any weapons fired from Iran.

The Pentagon said Undersecretary of Defense for Policy James Miller would attend a groundbreaking ceremony later this month for the construction of the Aegis site.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=120973
19/10/13

-Related:

• Kyrgyz Leader Finalizes US Airbase Closure

• Russia to Start Sending Weapons to Kyrgyzstan This Year....