The BUK-beds are being sold by the St Petersburg’s CaroBus company and are among a “defenders of the motherland” series aimed at encouraging children to be soldiers.
The push to sell the beds comes as a report last week from Dutch-led investigators gave “irrefutable” evidence pointing to Moscow’s complicity in the loss of MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
In response to the beds, prominent journalist Oleg Kashin asked if it was some kind of “joke”, and there were critical comments on the company’s product page site.
“Will there be burnt toys as a bonus?”, asked one angry user. “I don’t see anything abnormal in a bed like this,” said CaroBus director Anton Koppel.
He told Fontanka news agency: “Some (children) grow up to be doctors, others bakers and some soldiers.”
So far around ten BUK beds had been sold and the designed was “nothing unusual”.
The bed includes a Russian flag, and has a base that lifts, resembling the BUK M-1 launcher – used to shoot down MH17 – being readied for a missile launch.
The sleeping area is 38 cm about the floor. The company also offers a Patriot tank, for the same price of 10,000 roubles – around £123.
On offer, too, is a bed shaped like a London bus with a UK flag, and a pink Princess bed, designed like a royal carriage.
Pirate boat and Lamborghini beds are also in the collection.
A website promoting them said: “We specialise on selling creative children’s furniture, like beds designed as cars, ships and many other models.
“Every client of our company was satisfied with the quality of our products.
“And the most satisfied were children who bought and continue to buy these beds.”
The site boasted: “Introducing a new model from our factory, a BUK M-1 launcher bed!”
One comment said: “When the investigation is over, there will be tens of thousands of children with Buks in their bedrooms among the suspects. It will become impossible to establish the actual guilty party”.
Another wrote: “Maybe we should forbid children to play at ‘war’?”
Last week’s report from the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team found that MH17 was shot out of the sky by a Russian missile from a BUK M1 launcher.
The strike was from a location in eastern Ukraine, controlled by pro-Moscow rebels.
The launcher had arrived from Russia, and after the strike, it was driven back to Russian territory.
Moscow has strenuously denied the allegations, and accused the investigators of ignoring crucial evidence suggesting the Ukrainian army was to blame for the loss of the MH17. — www.mirror.co.uk
