Flight MH17 was brought down by a rocket on July 17 2014. All 298 people on board died. The wreckage came down in the Donetsk region. Both the Ukrainian and the Russian air traffic control were in touch with the plane and saw it on their radar screens, as the accident happened near the border.
The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) did not get raw primary radar data from any of the countries. The raw primary radar data would not only show MH17 but also a few images of the rocket, when properly reexamined and refiltered, as was confirmed by an expert at a hearing in the Dutch parliament.
The Dutch government said that it did not know of any other plane incident in the last 10 years in Europe where the investigators could not get the raw primary data.
Ukraine told the DSB that its primary radar was under maintenance. It did not challenge that in the final report. Later, it said that part of the radar stations were destroyed. These two statements are mutually exclusive according to the Dutch government
Russia showed the world primary radar data on 21 July 2014 but destroyed its raw primary radar data. It only provided screen prints, so the radar data could not be reexamined to find the rocket. This is a breach of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules, as is confirmed by DSB and ICAO in the DSB report.
The families of the victims wrote a letter to President Putin and President Poroshenko five months ago, asking very precise questions on what happened to the radar data. The Russian administration answered with a public letter without any answers to the precise questions asked. Neither president provided a personal answer.
Mr. Omtzigt
To ask the Committee of Ministers