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MH17: Russia ‘photoshopped’ evidence, independent group claims

KUALA LUMPUR — Russia’s defence ministry has tampered with two satellite images in order to blame Ukraine for the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 last year, an independent investigative group has alleged.

The site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash is seen in the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. Photo: Reuters

The site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash is seen in the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. Photo: Reuters

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KUALA LUMPUR — Russia’s defence ministry has tampered with two satellite images in order to blame Ukraine for the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 last year, an independent investigative group has alleged.

According to the group called Bellingcat, Russia had used the Adobe Photoshop CS5 software to digitally alter the images, including to show that Ukraine’s “Buk” M-1 missile launcher were purportedly in the range of the crash.

“Our forensic analysis of all three images clearly and unequivocally shows that these images have been altered. In each of the pictures, significant image content has been digitally modified with a high level of probability,” Bellingcat said in its report titled “Forensic Analysis of Satellite Images Released by the Russian Ministry of Defence”.

The group also said that the photos, which Russia claimed was taken on July 17, 2014 when the plane crashed, were actually taken at least two days earlier.

Bellingcat’s investigation focused on two out of the six satellite images released by Russia in an international press conference following the crash: dubbed Picture 4 and Picture 5.

Picture 5 purportedly showed the presence of two Ukrainian Buk missile launchers that were within firing range of MH17, while Picture 4 was said to reveal the absence of a Buk missile launcher at a military unit north of Donetsk.

“On 21 July 2014, the Russian Ministry of Defence presented digitally modified and falsely dated satellite images to the international public in order to implicate the Ukrainian army in the downing of MH17. Later, on 1 August 2014, the MoD again published digitally altered and falsely dated satellite imagery with the release of Picture 5-analytics,” said Bellingcat.

Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai has refused to comment on Bellingcat’s claim.

“I cannot give any comment about the allegation, they can give to the international investigative body to study and scrutinise,” he was quoted as saying by Malay news daily Berita Harian in a news report today when contacted.

MH17, a Boeing 777-200ER, was on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 298 passengers and crew, when it was shot down over Ukraine on July 17. There were no survivors.

On July 22, 2014, Malay Mail Online had reported Russia’s ambassador to Malaysia, Ms Lyudmila Vorobyeva, as claiming that the evidence provided by the Ukrainian government implicating Russia’s involvement was fake.

Ms Vorobyeva also mocked Ukraine for the speed with which the evidence was produced, saying that “real evidence takes time”, as it took Russia five days before producing their own version of evidence. THE MALAY MAIL ONLINE

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