rt news headlines, "ukrainian buk battery radar was operational when malaysian plane downed -- moscow", http://rt.com/news/173784-ukraine-plane-malaysian-russia/ . 18 july 2014, no author attributed.
to quote the article:
on thursday, when a malaysian airlines plane was apparently shot down over ukraine, a ukrainian buk anti-aircraft missile battery was operational in the region, the russian defense ministry said, contradicting kiev’s statements.
the battery was deployed at a site from which it could have fired a missile at the airliner, the ministry said in a statement. it said radiation from the battery’s radar was detected by the russian military.
“the russian equipment detected throughout july 17 the activity of a kupol radar, deployed as part of a buk-m1 battery near styla [a village some 30km south of donetsk],” the ministry said in a statement.
the ministry said the radar could be providing tracking information to another battery deployed in the region [live link deactivated:jj], which was at a firing distance from the plane’s flight path.
earlier kiev said it could not have fired a missile at the passing civilian plane because it had no buk missile launchers deployed in the region. at the same time the ukrainians said the militias had no buk systems in their hands, according to a statement from the country’s prosecutor general.
after the russian ministry came out with the statement, bogdan senyk, a spokesman for the ukrainian defense ministry reiterated kiev’s position, saying that "anti-aircraft missiles have not been deployed during the anti-terrorist operation ... they are all in place."
http://rt.com/news/173784-ukraine-plane-malaysian-russia/
1.)the russian defense ministry (at least in the release quoted above by rt) does not assert or claim that they detected any missiles having been fired by ukrainian forces, at the malaysian liner nor any other target.
2.)nor does the russian defense ministry claim that their systems could not have detected any missile launches from ukrainian buk sites.
it seems plausible if not determined that if the russians were monitoring the ukraine with instruments capable of detecting radar systems in use, than they should have also been monitoring the ukraine with systems capable of detecting (a) missile(s) launch(es), and should have been able to tell if the buk targeting apparatus had "locked" onto the malaysian liner had it been interpreted as a target.
this seems only a fair assumption/conclusion. if the russian equipment could detect " ... throughout july 17 the activity of a kupol radar, deployed as part of a buk-m1 battery near styla ...," as claimed, then it should have been able to detect a lock on target, and most certainly should have been able to detect and record (a) missile(s) launched on the doomed malaysian claim.
the russian defense ministry does not claim that. it claims only to have detected a general radar search. this is not the same as detecting a lock on target, nor a missile launch. indeed, since the rooskies developed and have deployed the buk missile, it seems that they should have also been able to intercept any transmission of target information from the radar battery which they say they were monitoring, and a launch site, and should have been able to monitor and detect targeting and authorization to shoot communication.
neither does the russian defense ministry say that.
in essence, what they say they detected was a radar signal.
this doesn't get the russians off the schneid, to say the least. and, oddly enough, i think this puts the russians fairly on the schneid. to be a little forthcoming. and, to allow the international community to inspect the records and the archives of the russian defense installation purportedly recording such matters.
for, you see, if the russian defense ministry were able to detect radar signals coming from a ukrainian installation fairly removed from the likely area of the missile launches that down malaysian flight mh17, then that same defense ministry installation should have been able to record any activity involving the buk site that did launch the missile(s) that brought the malaysian plane down, killing nearly 300 persons.
i think rt news ought to inquire of the russian defense ministry if they detected any russian and/or "militia" radar and launch activity toward the malaysian plane on that date. and, i further think that rt news ought to demand of the russian defense ministry that it open its records, archives and instruments to international inspection to see if it in fact detected such activity on the part of the russian military or its allied forces in ukraine.
so, come on, rt news, and come on russian defense ministry, let's see what you have.
fair is fair, after all. you don't have anything which indicates ukrainian targeting and firing upon the plane. let's see if you don't have anything which indicates that russian targeted and fired upon the plane, or, if maybe you do.
and, since you russians are pretty thorough about recording things, let's see if you have any records or orders memorializing the transport of a buk battery, minus two missiles, out of the ukraine shortly after the plane went down. you do record launch authorization, and launch codes, don't you? let's find out.
john jay @ 07.19.2014
p.s. come on, united nations. let's take a look at what the russians have up their sleeves.
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