Russia: Missile that struck MH17 not produced by Almaz-Antey - company director

Almaz-Antey Concern, a leading Russian manufacturer of BUK missile systems, never has produced the BUK missile complex that was most likely used to down flight MH17 last July, according to an investigation carried out by the company, it emerged in Moscow, Tuesday. Yan Novikov, the General Director of Almaz-Antey Concern, stated during a press conference on the tragedy that it was almost certain that if a surface-to-air missile was involved in the accident, a BUK-M1 complex with a 9M38M1 missile was used. This is a weapon that has not been produced in the Russian Federation since 1999, three years before Almaz-Antey was founded. Moreover, the Russian military uses Buk 9M37 missiles, not the 9M38M1 version. Novikov added that his company had cooperated with the investigation into the crash and was willing to stage a demonstration at its own expense to back up its claims. Novikov declined to speculate on who actually fired the fatal missile. All 298 people on board the Malaysian Airlines plane died when it was shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.