Anger grows towards Russia over MH17 crash

Outraged world leaders heaped pressure on Russia
Sunday to press Moscow-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine to
allow investigators proper access to the crash site of the
Malaysian MH17 jet.
Rescue efforts were in disarray as armed gunmen in fatigues and
balaclavas refused to allow international monitors full access and
the grisly remains of some of the 298 passengers killed have yet to
be removed.
Ukraine has warned that the rebels, who Kiev and the US have
accused of blowing the plane out of the sky with a missile, were
“hours away” from removing key evidence across the Russian
border.
As fears grew that evidence was being tampered with world
leaders voiced their frustration with Moscow, pushing East-West
ties to crisis point after months of discord over the Kremlin’s
interference in ex-Soviet Ukraine.
US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian counterpart Sergei
Lavrov that Washington was “deeply concerned” investigators
were denied “proper access” to the crash site for a second
consecutive day.
His spokeswoman Jen Psaki later said the “unacceptable”
insecurity at the crash site was an “affront to all those who lost
loved ones and to the dignity the victims deserve”.
Site of Malaysian jet crash
“The United States is also very concerned about reports that the
remains of some victims and debris from the site are being
tampered with or inappropriately removed from the site,” the State
Department said.
Kerry was backed by leaders from Britain, the Netherlands,
Malaysia, Australia and France — as well as Ukraine — in calling
on Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene in getting an
international probe under way.
- ‘Absolutely chaotic’ crash site -
There was growing concern about the whereabouts of some of the
bodies which had been removed from the crash site, while others
were left lying in field in the rural part of eastern Ukraine where the
Boeing 777 jet was brought to ground.
British Prime Minister David Cameron called for tougher European
action against Moscow if Putin did not change tack.
“If President Putin does not change his approach on Ukraine, then
Europe and the West must fundamentally change our approach to
Russia,” he said, writing in the Sunday Times newspaper.
“Russia can use this moment to find a path out of this festering,
dangerous crisis. I hope it will do so. But if that does not happen
then we must respond robustly,”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte — his nation mourning the loss of
192 compatriots — said he had called on Putin during a “very
intense” conversation to “take responsibility” for a credible
investigation.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the crash site was
“absolutely chaotic” as he sought to recover 28 bodies of his
compatriots killed in the disaster.
“My fear is that Russia will say the right thing, but that on the
ground interference with the site, interference with investigators,
interference with the dignified treatment of bodies will continue,”
he said.
International monitors were met on Saturday by Kalashnikov-
wielding militias who allowed them access to only the outskirts of
the field — its swaying sunflowers hiding dismembered remains of
charred and decomposing bodies of victims whose lives were cut
short on Thursday.
The Ukrainian government issued a furious statement declaring
that “terrorists with the support of Russia are trying to destroy
proof of this international crime”.
- Missing black boxes -
Malaysia’s transport minister expressed alarm before boarding a
flight to Kiev over “indications that vital evidence has not been
preserved in place”.
“One of the crucial questions is the fate of the black boxes,” said
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe spokesman
Michael Bociurkiw.
The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, into
whose airspace the doomed jet strayed to avoid bad weather, said
his men had never recovered the data recorders or tampered with
evidence.
The diplomatic wrangling was accompanied by uninterrupted
fighting across Ukraine’s eastern rustbelt — a Russian-speaking
region of seven million people who largely view the more
nationalistic west of the splintered country with mistrust.
Putin rejects all charges of providing either funding or military
support to the insurgents who in April seized towns in the region
demanding independence after a pro-Western government took
power in Kiev.
Their move came just two weeks after Russia — stunned by the
removal of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych, annexed
heavily-Russified Crimea.
Ukrainian troops pressed on with an offensive against the rebels,
reporting they had taken full control of the main airport of the
neighbouring separatist stronghold of Lugansk and launching all-
out offensives against two nearby towns.
Government troops said they had also established full control of
Donetsk airport for the first time since it was seized at the end of
May.
Kiev said the latest clashes killed five soldiers and wounded
another 20.
- ‘Wake-up call’ -
US President Barack Obama and major world leaders now agree
that the Malaysia Airlines jet was blown out of the sky at 33,000
feet (10,000 metres) by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile fired
from rebel-controlled territory.
Kiev has gone a step further by accusing militias of using a
Russian-supplied Buk system to down the jet after confusing it
with a Ukrainian military transporter.
Ukraine has released recordings of what it said was an intercepted
call between an insurgent commander and a Russian intelligence
officer as they realised they had shot down a passenger jet.
But Putin has blamed the tragedy on Kiev’s three-month military
operation.
The plane’s downing came less than a day after the United States
unleashed punishing sanctions against some of Russia’s most
important energy and military firms — most of them with links to
Putin — and urged more hesitant European leaders to follow suit.
The European Union — many of its member states dependent on
Russian gas — took the far less punitive step on Friday of curbing
some future investments in Russia and leaving the option open for
broader sanctions.