Russia calls on US to show proof of missile claims

MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse

A pro-Russian rebel holds a gun passing by plane wreckage as members of the OSCE mission to Ukraine arrive for a media briefing at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, July 22, 2014. AP Photo

A senior Russian official called Thursday on the United States to prove its claims that the Malaysian passenger airliner shot down last week was hit by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Ukraine.
      
"They've said US intelligence has technical data and satellite photos which show that the missile was launched from rebel-held territory. The question is where is this data", Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said in an interview with Russia-24 television.
      
US officials have in recent days said that satellite and other "technical" intelligence confirmed the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 with 298 people on board was hit last Thursday by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile from an area controlled by the pro-Russian rebels.
      
A senior US intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Tuesday in Washington that: "It's a solid case that it's a SA-11 that was fired from eastern Ukraine under conditions the Russians helped create."        

Washington has accused Russia of supplying pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine with weapons, a charge Moscow denies.
      
Russian military officials on Monday said their flight records showed a Ukrainian fighter jet was close to the Malaysian passenger airliner just before the Boeing 777 crashed on July 17 and that Kiev was operating radar stations used for missile systems.
      
Pro-Russian separatists have shot down a number of Ukrainian military aircraft in recent weeks.