Russian state television has released a photograph taken by satellite that it believes shows a Ukrainian fighter jet shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. However, many commentators have dismissed the photo as a fake.

The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur carrying 298 people was shot down July 17 over a rebel-held area of eastern Ukraine. All passengers were killed in the crash. Ukraine and other Western nations blamed the attack on Russian-supported rebels, but Russia claimed not to have supplied the separatists with ground-to-air missiles used in the plane's destruction.

The photo was released by Russia's Channel One and Rossiya TV stations Friday is said to show a Ukrainian fighter plane firing an air-to-air missile in the direction of the MH17. The news stations said they received the photo in an email.

Later that day, the U.S. State Department dismissed the image as a "preposterous" attempt by Moscow to "obfuscate the truth and ignore ultimate responsibility for the tragic downing of MH17." The agency went on to say separatists and Moscow to "grant unfettered access for international investigators to the crash site."

Details of the photograph seem suspicious, including a cloud pattern cited by bloggers who say that proves the photo dates back to 2012. Other critics said the photo appears to show a different type of commercial aircraft, a Boeing 767.

Additionally, just a few hours before MH17 was downed, The Associated Press announced a Buk M-1 missile system, a tank-sized machine armed with four ground-to-air missiles, passed through the town of Snizhne near the crash site. This would blow the theory apart of a fighter jet firing and air-to-air missile at MH17.

Some believe that the photo is an effort to deflect criticism or blame over the international tragedy that Russian President Vladimir Putin faces while attending the Group of 20 summit in Brisbane, Australia.