The latest breakthrough is expected to help investigators to identify voices on a key phone intercept that could help pinpoint the chain of command just before the aircraft was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald said the three-star general had been identified as Nikolai Fedorovich Tkachev.
It was reported that in the phone intercept, a commander could be heard giving orders and there was a discussion about moving a missile launcher.
The identification of the Russian general was achieved in the course of an investigation by a team of reporting outlets made up of McClatchy news in the US and investigative websites Bellingcat (based in London) and The Insider (based in Moscow).
In October, the Dutch-led joint investigative team looking into the incident had issued an appeal for information on a photograph believed to show the missile which shot down the plane.
According to an AP report, the photo showed what looked like a missile on a mobile launcher, partially covered in camouflage netting.
A black van with its sliding door open partially obscures the vehicle, while the rear of a car can be seen on the right side of the photo.
The report said investigators believed the photo might have been taken in the town of Makeevka, Ukraine, on the day the plane was shot down.
It quoted Elsbeth Kleibeuker, a spokeswoman for the Dutch National Prosecution Office, as saying that the picture had been uploaded to a website which allows members of the public to anonymously post evidence.
“We believe this is the BUK missile that downed flight MH17,” she was reported as saying.
The team, which is known by its acronym JIT, had urged anyone with information on the photo, its location or the vehicles in it to come forward.
Flight MH17 was shot down over Donetsk in eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
All 298 passengers and crew members on board were killed.
Authorities concluded the plane was shot down by a Russian-made ground-to-air rocket but have yet to formally identify suspects. Moscow meanwhile denies that any of its rockets was involved in the incident.
On Sept 22, Malaysia, Ukraine, Australia, Belgium and The Netherlands signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on political support to prosecute the perpetrators of the downing.
“Agreeing to prosecute the perpetrators of the downing of flight MH17 in the Netherlands, the JIT countries confirmed that they will assist one another should any of them face any kind of external pressure to undermine the prosecution or the cooperation among them,” Wisma Putra had said.