The Joint International Investigation (JIT) into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 has received no radar information from Russia, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said Thursday.
The flight was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 on board.
Speaking to the Radio EC radio station, Wim de Bruin, the chairman of the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, said investigators were aware of the “alleged existence of radar information from Russia.”
They, however, had only seen it in “newspaper reports and in presentations from Russian representatives.”
Writing on social media, Christo Grozev, an analyst with the Bellingcat open source investigation group, also researching the downing of MH17, said a JIT representative had confirmed Russia had sent no radar data.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte last week called on Russia to stop spreading “all sorts of nonsense” and cooperate fully with the inquiry.
The JIT on Sept. 28 presented its findings that MH17 had been downed by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, which was fired from within territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists and had entered eastern Ukraine from Russia.
The Kremlin immediately denounced the report as “biased and politically motivated”. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that investigators had "ignored incontestable evidence from the Russian side" whilst claiming Russia was "the only side sending reliable information."
Russia has consistently promoted alternative theories to the disaster, many implicating Ukraine.
A poll published Thursday by Russia’s state-run pollster VTsIOM also revealed that over half of Russians believe Ukraine to be responsible for the jet’s downing.
