The shooting down of Flight MH17 has exposed the pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine as a chaotic, reckless army directed over the phone by officers from the GRU, Moscow’s military intelligence agency.
As more is leaked about the downing of the Malaysian Airlines passenger aircraft, Russia’s involvement in the fighting becomes plain.
Two theories, not always compatible, about the intentions and activities of the separatist army have emerged in the past 24 hours.
The first is that the ill-fated airliner was shot down by mistake — the Cossack unit that pulled the trigger having used only one radar to identify the aircraft. The second is that the rebels, in a tangled relationship with Moscow, have escalated their fight against Ukrainian and foreign aircraft to draw