A Russian television host was caught throwing a Ukrainian expert off his show after on on-air spat over the fate of flight MH17.
Andrei Norkin, who presents a talk show for state-owned channel NTV, physically pushed political analyst Sergei Zaporozhsky from the set after the expert accused him of lying.
The show, which was originally broadcast on Wednesday, focused on a Dutch-led investigation into the MH17 tragedy. All 298 people on board the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet were killed when the plane crashed over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
The scuffle broke out after Norkin claimed an American blogger had first promoted the idea of a Ukrainian fighter jet downing MH17. The theory has been repeatedly used by the Kremlin to counter evidence that a Russian-made Buk missile had brought down the plane.
Zaporozhsky moved to interrupt the host, who shouted, “Please, there's not need to treat me like that.”
“There is a need,” Zaporozhsky said, “because you're lying.”
Norkin then told the expert to leave, physically pushing him from the set.
“You think any bonehead can teach me?”, Norkin asked the audience. “I've worked in journalism for 26 years.”
The Kremlin has repeatedly promoted the idea that a Ukrainian military jet downed the plane, blaming Kiev for the flight's demise.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed days after the disaster that a Ukrainian fighter jet had been seen on radar just before the crash, while the country's Investigative Committee repeated the allegation in July 2015. State television showed an experiment with a jet firing at an old passenger jet.
The Russian government later silently dropped the theory following
a press conference by the Russian company responsible for making BUK
anti-aircraft missile, Almaz-Antey.
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