Russian Defense Ministry provided Belgium with exhausting evidence of Belgian airstrike on Kurdish village on Oct 18 - Konashenkov
MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax-AVN) - The data obtained from flight instruments, available to the Russian Defense Ministry, clearly indicate that the strike on a Kurdish village on October 18 was carried out by Belgian military aircraft, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.
"The Russian Defense Ministry provided Belgium with exhaustive data of objective monitoring of the Syrian airspace, confirming the carrying out by the Belgian Air Component aircraft of a strike against the Kurdish village of Hassajak on October 18," he said.
"Attempts by the Belgian defense minister to divert public attention from the tragedy by using the justification every professional knows is paltry are deeply puzzling," he said.
"This shows either Mr. Steven Vandeput's failure to understand the document Russia provided, or a desire of the U.S. Air Force Central Command responsible for issuing target indications to the international coalition aircraft in Syria to walk away from the responsibility for the killing, as a result of the bombing, of six Syrian civilians," he said.
"The only way to prove a real desire to investigate the actions of the Belgian air forces and identify all those responsible for the bombing of the Kurdish village of Hassajak is for the Belgian authorities to conduct a transparent and objective inquiry, with their U.S. allies providing data of objective monitoring of the air situation in Syria on October 18," Konashenkov said.
"For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry has already provided a factual, minute-by-minute picture of the actions of the Belgian aircraft, from takeoff to landing, on October 18," he recalled.
