Russian President Vladimir Putin had a peculiar response to Thursday's announcement by the Dutch-led investigating team that it was a missile owned by the Russian military that downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. Putin said he had no idea how that conclusion was reached because Russia isn't allowed to take part in the investigation.
"The Ukrainian side is working there, though Ukraine broke international rules and didn't close its airspace over a territory where combat was taking place," Putin said during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. "And yet it's working and Russia isn't. So we don't know what they're writing there and what this commission's writings are based on."
This is a stunningly callous and insulting line to take. Information about the provenance of the Buk 9M38 missile has been publicly available since 2014 from the independent investigative blog Bellingcat. On Thursday, the Joint Investigative Team confirmed their conclusion. Russia never had to accept it on faith. It was uniquely qualified to track the movements of the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade's Buk launchers. The Russian military is not some kind of chaotic rebel band: It's a major power's armed force, which doesn't drive around missile launchers or especially take them across borders without leaving any kind of trail.