And what does that answer?
The hard evidence that Russia is showing us for proof, shows that there was nothing near MH17/MAS17.
Ignore the diagram with the fighter plane, look at the radar data in the video.
The object on radar has no speed or heading.
Any airplane needs forward motion to fly, military or civilian!

Again, technical explination:
http://whoisstrelkov.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/russian-atc-lesson-101-the-phantom-su25/
– The radar paint that the RU MOD tries to describe as the phantom SU25 is in fact the MH17 primary paint of what is now falling wreckage

Does it matter what you think? It was simply agreed to work in this way, and the Russian Federation also signed this convention on October 15th 1970.

Russia is trying to train peoples brain not to accept the solution of the official investigation, when that deviates from what Russian officials told. It is not trying to help or inform anyone.
They are trying to lure out a mud fight:
http://rt.com/news/173976-mh17-crash-questions-ukraine/
But the US and Ukraine didn’t bite.
http://rt.com/news/174496-malaysia-crash-russia-questions/

And then we have some information from the man himself:
Vladimir Putin talks about Malaysian MH 17 plane crash in Ukraine [English Subtitles]

Part of what he says:

“At the same time, no one should and no one has the right to use this tragedy to pursue their own political goals”.

All those who are responsible for the situation in the region must take greater responsibility before their own peoples and before the peoples of the countries whose citizens were killed in this disaster.

“It is essential that a full-fledged group of experts under ICAO aegis, an appropriate international commission set up for the task, be able to work at the crash site.

Are Putins actions different from what he says, or has he no influence on his country at all?

“I would certainly also want to have a look at the allegedly confiscated radar and voice records of the Kiev Air Control Tower to understand why the Malaysian pilot veered off course and rapidly descended shortly before his plane crashed, and find out whether foreign air controllers in Kiev were indeed sent packing immediately after the crash.”

Who wouldn’t?
But in any air crash investigation the data will not be shared with the public immediately.
The Dutch investigators have said to follow ICAO protocol, as Putin also suggested.
But it’s actually Putin’s people who are not following ICAO protocol, by releasing radar date.

ICAO Annex 13 section 5.12 (e) refers:
Non-disclosure of records
The State conducting the investigation of an accident or incident shall not make the following records available for purposes other than accident or incident investigation, unless the appropriate authority for the administration of justice in that State determines that their disclosure outweighs the adverse domestic and international impact such action may have on that or any future investigations:
a) all statements taken from persons by the investigation authorities in the course of their investigation;
b) all communications between persons having been involved in the operation of the aircraft;
c) medical or private information regarding persons involved in the accident or incident;
d) cockpit voice recordings and transcripts from such recordings;
e) recordings and transcriptions of recordings from air traffic control units;
f) cockpit airborne image recordings and any part or transcripts from such recordings; and
g) opinions expressed in the analysis of information, including flight recorder information.

And using Russia Today new channel to provoke a reaction from Ukraine and the US.
http://rt.com/news/174496-malaysia-crash-russia-questions/

“The presence of two Ukrainian fighter planes near the Malaysian airliner on Russian radar would be a potential clue I would be very interested in if I were investigating either as journalist or member of the investigation team that the Netherlands officially leads.”

Russian Ministry of Defense Press Conference on #MH17 07/21/2014

There was absolutely nothing present around flight MH17.
What they say in the video is different from what is actually show you in the video.
Here is a technical explanation of the radar data shown by Russia, explained by someone with technical knowledge about radar data.
http://whoisstrelkov.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/russian-atc-lesson-101-the-phantom-su25/
From a non-technical point of view we can conclude that the object was only seen after MH17 had already slowed down to 200km/h, as the official Russian story mentions. The most logical explanation is that the object on radar is debris of MH17. So Russia blames a Ukrainian Su-25, which is not there at all, only to pursue it’s own political goals.
Please go ahead and ask someone, for example from TU Delft, about how a civil radar system works and what the Russian data is actually showing.

The “leftist journalist” that you refer to writes under the pseudonym Eric Zuesse, calls himself an investigative historian, but is actually retired quality program manager Larry Cardo.
You can see more of his articles here:
http://www.opednews.com/author/author85251.html
It’s all one big rant against Obama.
The man is only interested in discrediting the US government.