Ukraine’s SBU security service has put on its wanted list a suspected Russian military intelligence officer Oleg Ivannikov, according to the Feb. 19 update on the Interior Ministry website.
Known as Andrey Ivanovich or Orion, Ivannikov is suspected of being involved in the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in Donetsk Oblast in 2014, according to the findings of open-source investigators Bellingcat. The downing of the plane led to deaths of all 298 people on board.
According to a SBU statement issued in July 2014, the Buk-M1 missile launcher that hit MH17 was transported from Russia to Ukraine during the night of July 16-17, 2014. At the time, according to Bellingcat, Ivannikov was an officer of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Ministry of Defense, known as the GRU, and allegedly gave orders for the Buk-M1 to be sent to Donetsk.
Ivannikov, 51, had been a high-ranking officer of Russia’s Armed Forces since 2003. He also served in the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia as chairman of its Security Council in 2004–2006, and was its minister of defense from 2006 to 2008. Now the SBU suspects him of engaging in terrorism and waging war.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands is considering referring Russia to an international court after reaching an impasse with the Kremlin over getting it to admit responsibility for shooting down MH17. Out of the 298 passengers and crew killed in the disaster, 193 were Dutch citizens.
