The Trouble with Locals: Russia's Arming of Ukrainian Separatists is Uniquely Irresponsible

The crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine unleashed of a storm of accusations. Under its newly elected president, Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s government accused Russia of launching missiles at the airliner. Just days before, the Ukrainian government declared that Russian surface-to-air missiles killed 19 Ukrainian soldiers near the Russian border. Yet Russian president Vladimir Putin countered that it was in fact Ukrainians who shot down the civilian airliner. Blame could have just as easily be laid on pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists or, given the still undetermined loss of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 in the Pacific, even Malaysian Airlines itself. It wasn’t until hours after the crash that U.S. intelligence analysts released their assessment that the disaster was no accident. Indeed, they determined that a missile had struck MH17 and killed the 295 civilians onboard – none of whom were from Ukraine or Russia. None of the deceased were a part of the conflict in eastern Ukraine; in fact, among the innocent dead were nearly 100 HIV/AIDS researchers en route to a conference in Melbourne. The question remains, however: who fired that missile?Russia certainly boasts sophisticated-enough surveillance in the region to know that MH17 was a civilian aircraft, and Ukrainian air traffic controllers were tracking the flight until they lost contact with it upon its crash. And the confirmation of the airliner's downing by a surface-to-air missile rules out a failure by Malaysian Airlines. As the other most likely guilty actor, pro-Russian separatists then seem likely to be responsible. However, these insurgents could not have taken down a civilian airplane flying at 30,000 feet without the help of Russian-supplied heavy weaponry. Phone conversations intercepted and released by Ukrainian intelligence authorities detail pro-Russian separatists discussing the possibility that they had shot down a civilian plane. If the separatists did indeed down MH17, Russia’s hand in this disaster is also evident.Throughout the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has stoked the violence and abetted the insurgents. Little doubt exists that Russian troops were deployed in Crimea, “protecting” locals in the midst of their Soviet-style referendum to join Russia. When fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine, regular Russian troops deployed on the Russia-Ukraine border and Russian fighters from Chechnya crossed into Ukraine to combat Kiev’s forces. When these irregular fighters were not enough to tilt the conflict in the favor of separatists, Russian-made T-64 tanks and other heavy weapons mysteriously.