This photo allegedly showing a fighter jet shooting down MH17 has been reported to be fake./Obkon message board
MOSCOW, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A photo spread by Russian state-controlled media showing a fighter jet shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is being slammed as fake.
Late Friday, a broadcast from Channel One TV in Russia aired a segment about the flight shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board. The U.S. and international investigators concluded the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile used by pro-Russian separatists. The photo allegedly supports a theory the Kremlin has pushed that Ukraine was responsible for the tragedy.
"We can assume that the photograph was taken by an American or British satellite," said Ivan Andriyevsky, the first vice president of the Russian Union of Engineers, who was reportedly emailed the photo. "We have studied the photograph in detail and found nothing suggesting that it is fake."
Well-known pro-Kremlin commentator Mikhail Leontyev pushed the theory and alluded to the tensions Russian President Vladimir Putin faced at the G20 in Brisbane.
"We know that Australian Prime Minister Abbott threatened to ask our president some difficult questions about the Malaysian Boeing. Let us help him," he said.
The photo was not on air for long before coming under scrutiny.
Among many Internet commentators, the Bellingcat blog listed the reasons for skepticism including the face the photograph had been previously posted on a Russian message board on Oct. 15 with claims it originated from Wikileaks. This contradicts the Channel One story that claimed the photo came from George Bilt, who was said to be a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate with more than 20 years of experience in the aviation industry.
One of the most glaring pieces of evidence was that the image closely matched the image that comes up for the Google search "боинг вид сверху" or "Boeing top view" and the logos for the planes were in the wrong places. The conclusion from critics is the image is a crude fake that was photoshopped to incriminate the Ukrainians and take heat off the Russians and its support for the rebels.
