Russia on Monday questioned Ukraine over its deployment of Buk anti-aircraft systems not far from the crash site of a Malaysian passenger jet, and asked the United States to make public its relevant satellite pictures.
"For what purpose and against whom were these missile systems deployed? As is known, the (anti-government) militia has no aviation," Andrei Kartopolov, chief of the main operative department of the General Staff, told a news briefing, pointing to a photo of what he said was a Buk battery detected 8 km south of Shakhtarsk, where the plane crashed.
He added that Russia had not handed Buk systems or other kinds of weapons or military hardware to the pro-independence militants in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia's air traffic control records have shown that a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to the passenger plane before the crash, which killed all 298 people on board, he said.
The official said the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, strayed 14 km north from its planned route after passing Ukraine's eastern city of Donetsk.
"The crew was attempting to return to the planned aerial corridor, but the flight was terminated at that moment," he said.
"What caused it to go outside the boundaries of the route ... can only be answered after the deciphering of the flight recorders ... and conversations with air traffic control services," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Kartopolov also asked the United States to release satellite pictures concerning the air crash.
"According to the statements of U.S. representatives, they have satellite pictures confirming that the rocket launched toward the Malaysian plane was carried out by militia. But no one has seen these pictures," he said.
Also on Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged Ukraine to answer 10 questions Moscow raised over the weekend about the air tragedy.
"Unfortunately, no reaction followed. We expect the answers to be provided after all," the ministry said in a statement.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov posed the questions on Saturday, mainly requesting Kiev to unveil its military details in the warring zone.
