Lenta.ru has highlighted a passage from the Malaysia Airlines statement on the doomed flight in a story headlined "Ukrainian Air Traffic Controllers Forced 'Boeing' To Fly Lower." (The link is no longer unavailable -- it's been replaced by a story pointing out that Ukrainian authorities have seized air-traffic control records -- so we're including, below, a screen grab of the article in question.)
Here's the relevant passage of the airline's statement:
MH17 filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000ft throughout Ukrainian airspace. This is close to the ‘optimum’ altitude.
However, an aircraft’s altitude in flight is determined by air traffic control on the ground. Upon entering Ukrainian airspace, MH17 was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly at 33,000ft.
The piece did not level any accusations or draw explicit connections, but it contributed to the growing amount of anti-Ukrainian, seemingly conspiracy-minded innuendo in Russian media covering the air disaster.
Our news desk has issued this brief item on what the UN Security Council has been saying about MH17:
The UN Security Council has unanimously called for a "full, thorough, and independent international investigation" into the downing of a Malaysian airliner with 298 people on board over Ukraine.
Meeting in New York today, the council has also urged all parties to grant investigators access to the site.
In a statement agreed by consensus, the council equally called for "appropriate accountability."
The UN Security Council observed a minute of silence for the victims of the Malaysia jet disaster.
The Ukrainian military and the separatists are blaming each other for shooting down the plane with a missile on July 17.
U.S. officials have said Washington strongly suspects the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was downed by a missile fired by Ukrainian separatists backed by Moscow.
(Reuters, AFP)
An army truck arrives as the search for bodies here continues. #ML17 pic.twitter.com/j4vf1J3sop
— Kevin Bishop (@bishopk) July 18, 2014
Reporter resigns from @RT_com and spills the beans: Every single day we’re lying and finding sexier ways to do it http://t.co/7Do7LtjYz0
— Peter Bouckaert (@bouckap) July 18, 2014
RFE/RL's Tom Balmforth has been asking Muscovites in the streets of Moscow what they make of the MH17 crash:
You can read more of media coverage of the Malaysian Airlines crash in Ukraine here
Re-upping our "How Is Russia Viewed Around The World?" graphic. The figures come from the Pew Research Center's "Spring 2014 Global Attitudes" survey. Click the image to see the full, interactive format.
Some 30 #OSCE monitors have now arrived by helicopter at #MH17 crash site in east #Ukraine http://t.co/7i6QkzL4sz
— Lotte Leicht (@LotteLeicht1) July 18, 2014
President Barack Obama tells a live press conference that "at least one American" was killed in the MH17 crash.
Sounds like pro-#Russia rebels not letting OSCE team close to the remains of #MH17 #Ukraine
— Thomas Grove (@tggrove) July 18, 2014
.@terbleu apparently a cordon has been set up that they're not allowed to pass to inspect remains #OSCE #HM17
— Thomas Grove (@tggrove) July 18, 2014