Investigators said they were making a"new witness appeal" based on"recorded telephone calls between the leaders of the DPR and high-ranking Russian officials".
Investigators said in June that they were going to put three Russian nationals and one Ukrainian on trial in the Netherlands in March 2020 over the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jet, although they will likely be tried in absentia. Investigators said on Thursday they had now established that Russian officials and the Ukrainian rebels used secure communications that"appear to be provided by the Russian security service FSB".