VOA标准英语--记者宣称掌握俄罗斯击落MH17的证据

Website Claims Russian Battalion¹-owned Missile Downed MH17 记者宣称掌握俄罗斯击落MH17的证据

LONDON—

A team of investigative journalists claims to have evidence showing that the missile that shot down a Malaysian airliner² over Ukraine in July 2014 belonged to a Russian battalion that had recently deployed³ to the region. Two hundred ninety-eight people died when the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was downed. A Dutch-led Joint⁴ Investigation⁵ Team is still probing the crash.

Investigators⁶ from the website Bellingcat.com claim to have put together a mass of evidence pinpointing⁷ the origins of a specific Russian-made missile launcher - firing a so-called ‘BUK’ missile - that it claims was used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

Eliot Higgins, the founder⁸ of Bellingcat, told VOA via Skype his team was able to identify a number of individuals involved.

“Rather than talk about ‘this missile launcher has come from the Russian army’ and it’s all rather nebulous, we can say ‘these are the names and faces, these were the people who knew what was happening to this BUK missile launcher, who would have passed on the orders,” he said.

Distinctive⁹ markings

Higgins’ team collated¹⁰ videos of a military convoy¹¹ in eastern Ukraine - posted on the Internet in the hours and days following the shooting down of flight MH17 -  and identified a BUK launcher they believe fired the missile.

“Some of the photographs of the BUK missile launcher from July 17 in Ukraine, there’s marking visible on the side of the missile launcher that match perfectly¹² with markings on the side of the missile launcher that was part of a convoy in Russia in June,” Higgins said.

Bellingcat then plotted the route of that June convoy in Russia, using videos posted online by soldiers and civilians¹³ filming from the roadside.  It appears to have started at a military base close to Kursk, the home of the 2nd Battalion of Russia’s 53rd Air Defense¹⁴ Brigade, and ends close to the Ukrainian border.

“What we’ve been able to find is a vast number of social media accounts belonging to soldiers who were part of the 53rd Air Defense Brigade. And based on that we were able to piece together who they were, which members of the brigade were in that convoy,” said Higgins. “So they would have been people who would have seen this missile launcher, they would have seen it leave at some point; so these are key people for the investigation to be speaking to.”

Details passed to Dutch investigators

Bellingcat partly identifies the commander of the 2nd battalion as a man named ‘Dmitry T. - and names the overall commander of the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade as Colonel Sergey Borisovich Muchkaev. All details have been passed to Dutch investigators.

The Bellingcat investigation concludes that even if the BUK launcher was given to separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian soldiers were likely still present to advise on its operation.

Russia has consistently denied involvement - and at the time offered photographic and satellite evidence purporting¹⁵ to show that Ukrainian forces shot down the airliner. Ukraine dismissed the accusation¹⁶, while Bellingcat says the Russian evidence was forged.

1 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

2 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

3 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 pinpointing   

准确地找出或描述( pinpoint的现在分词 )； 为…准确定位

参考例句：

• The difficulty of pinpointing primitive and derived characters remains. 要正确地指出原始性状和次生性状仍然感到困难。
• Pinpointing the true source of power in Japan is a notoriously slippery task. 要准确指出日本真正的权力来源，是一项非常困难的任务。

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

9 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

10 collated   

v.校对( collate的过去式和过去分词 )；整理；核对；整理（文件或书等）

参考例句：

• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Information was collated from several data centers around the country. 信息从城市四周的几个数据中心得到校对。 来自互联网

11 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

12 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

13 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

14 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

15 purporting   

v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Cindy Adams (Columnist) : He's purporting to be Mother Teresa. 辛迪？亚当斯（专栏作家）：他无意成为德兰修女。 来自互联网
• To prohibit certain practices purporting to be sales by auction. 本条例旨在对看来是以拍卖方式作出的售卖中某些行为予以禁止。 来自互联网

16 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。