Russian officials aren’t really known for their sensitivity, at least, not lately. But getting free press for a new children’s bed designed after a missile that investigators say killed almost 300 civilians on their way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur seems downright tacky.
A Russian bed company is throwing some fuel on international outrage over the Buk air defense missile system that Western investigators believe downed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014. All 298 people aboard the aircraft died. Russia has denied its missiles blew up the plane.
The St. Petersburg-based company CARoBUS, the maker of the beds, told the BBC World Service they saw “nothing unusual” about the design.
The company makes other unique beds, such as sports cars, trains, ships, aircraft, and others.
“I see nothing unusual in a cot like this,” CARoBUS director Anton Koppel told Russian news website Fontanka.
The Russian government has strenuously denied it had any role in shooting down the civilian airliner, but Dutch authorities are adamant Moscow’s missile system was to blame.
In a statement released October 1st, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said “given the convincing nature of the evidence, Russia should respect the results that have been presented, rather than impugning the investigation and sowing doubt.”
Russian people – commenters on the original Fontaka story – thought the design was in poor taste. One commenter called the bed a “Freudian slip.”