The JIT said it had again requested information from Russia, which had failed to tell it of this missile unit's activities, and put out another open call for confidential witness testimony. Russian officials, who have since the plane went down put out a raft of theories to shift the blame to Ukraine, began pushing back against the allegation almost immediately.

Yury Shvytkin, a member of parliament, called the investigation "aggression against our country like that during the Skripal case" and claimed it would have to "at the minimum" find fingerprints on the missile to accuse Moscow.

Mr Paulissen said a "fingerprint for the missile" had been established through seven markings and features on the sides of the launcher. Photographs, videos and witness testimony traced the progress of this launcher in a convoy from Kursk to the Ukrainian border in June 2014, and it was photographed again near the launch site on the day of the catastrophe.

Asked whether there were satellite images of the launch, Fred Westerbeke, the Dutch chief prosecutor, said the investigation had information that it could not reveal at the risk of "showing our cards to the other side". He added that it was entering the "last phase" ahead of possible legal proceedings.

Reuters and Telegraph, London