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The trial over the downing of MH17 is underway in the Netherlands, and the Russian defense is a complete mess. @christogrozev reviews suspect Oleg Pulatov's defense strategy, which includes a number of far-from-reliable "eyewitnesses": https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/06/25/crisis-actors-as-defense-witnesses-pulatovs-defense-strategy-in-the-mh17-trial/
Russia has gone through a litany of conspiracy theories to redirect the blame for MH17 over the last 6 years; however, Pulatov's defense uses many of the conspiracies that even Russia has discarded and moved on from.
They even brought up Carlos the Air Traffic Controller!
They even brought up Carlos the Air Traffic Controller!
Since 2017, the Kremlin has not only abandoned, but even rejected the absurd theory that an aircraft shot down MH17, putting all of their chips on the "Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile" hypothesis. However, Pulatov's defense didn't get the memo and is pushing this theory hard.
(You can read more on the evolution of the Kremlin's official and semi-official positions on the downing of MH17 here, where they shift from an air-to-air missile theory to surface-to-air missile over the course of three years: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/01/05/kremlins-shifting-self-contradicting-narratives-mh17/)
Pulatov's defense brings up a number of "eyewitnesses" who claim to have seen a Ukrainian aircraft shoot down MH17. All of these witnesses are suspect at best, and clearly lying at worst.
Valentina Chaika, the woman who appears in a video provided by Pulatov's legal defense team, is a self-described "war-time journalist" involved in "propaganda" (as she says in her won words).
In the defense's video, Chaika speaks in the first person, describing seeing Ukrainian planes down MH17. However, in her previous statements, she clearly notes that she herself saw nothing, and is just repeating statements she claims to have heard from others.
Lying about witnessing the MH17 shootdown yourself is bad enough. In a previous interview with NewsFront, Chaika claimed that the MH17 victims' bodies were "bloodless" and smelled of "formaldehyde", echoing Igor Girkin's bizarre claim of bodies that were long-dead.
In a particularly grotesque segment with NewsFront, Chaika also questioned why there were "no crying relatives of the victims on television" -- implying that the entire MH17 shootdown was a staged operation and the victims were long-dead and not actual passengers.
So, that's one of the "star eyewitnesses" from Pulatov's legal defense team. Another man (Lev Bulatov or Gleb Filatov, depending on which outlet you check) said that he could even read a Ukrainian fighter jet's tail number from the ground as it shot down MH17.
Sure, right. yeah.
Sure, right. yeah.
A third witness was initially interviewed by Graham Phillips and claimed to have seen two fighter jets in his initial interview. However, we reached out to him -- the man went on the record to say that he "never saw any fighter jet, or any other plane" on the day of the downing.
Pulatov's defense team is using a strategy that is not only illogical, but even contradictory to the current stance of the Russian Federation regarding MH17. They are throwing any conspiracy they can at the prosecution to impede and prolong the trial. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/06/25/crisis-actors-as-defense-witnesses-pulatovs-defense-strategy-in-the-mh17-trial/
