One year later, a poll would find that only 3 percent of Russians believed Russian separatists were the perpetrators of the attack, while more than 60 percent thought the Ukrainians or Americans bore responsibility. The Russian lies even made their way to the American mainstream when, in October of 2015, CNN asked presidential candidate Donald Trump who was behind the missile strike. Trump repeated Putin’s denials of Russian involvement, adding, “to be honest with you, you’ll probably never know for sure.”

