It might seem that Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution to set up an international tribunal to try the people responsible for the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 last year because Russia was responsible — either directly or through its separatist proxies in eastern Ukraine. Yet this guilt, by now pretty well-established, is not the real reason for the veto.

It was obvious from the start that MH17 was shot down by the pro-Russian side in the Ukraine conflict. The rebels had no air force, and Russia couldn't use its own to support them and still deny being involved, so Ukrainians had no aerial invaders to shoot at. But the Ukrainian military was conducting bombing raids over rebel territory and using transport planes to carry troops and equipment. The rebels initially boasted on social networks that they'd shot down a Ukrainian transport plane, which soon turned out to be the Malaysian airliner. In the year since, investigations by multiple news organizations and civil journalists have pointed to the rebel side.

It's not clear who exactly downed the plane — whether it was the rebels themselves, using a captured Ukrainian Buk missile, or a Russian unit sent across the border to aid them. Yet there's little doubt which side was responsible — outside Russia, that is. Inside Russia, a recent poll showed that 44 percent blame the Ukrainian military, and 17 percent — wait for it — believe the United States was responsible. Only 2 percent believe in Russia's guilt.