After reading this report, I'm betting that the shoot down of passenger flight MH17 was accidental, even though nowhere in the report "accident" is mentioned. Yes, it was a military launch of a Russian SA-11 ground to air missile, but no, I'll bet they thought they were shooting down a Ukrainian military aircraft.

Idiots! Even I know how to predict when a passenger flight should fly over on its usual route.

So the rest of the real interesting story (to me) is about their consistent denial that they or their SA-11 missile had anything to do with it. Putin obviously knows what happened. What will he say next? As far as intentions go (after taking Crimea), I think they want more influence and dominance of the Black Sea, which would also explain their harassment of US ships (legally) there.

Here's a link to the full (but preliminary) report.

For a glimpse:

Presentation preliminary results criminal investigation MH17 28-09-2016