US, Oz, Ukraine blame Russia at UNSC emergency meet; Putin says Kiev responsible
The United States, Australia and Ukraine have pointed the finger at Russia or pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine for shooting down Malaysian Airlines jet, MH17, over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine bore responsibility for the crash, but he didn’t address the question of who might have shot it down and didn’t accuse Ukraine of doing so.
US Ambassador Samantha Power told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday that the US cannot rule out that Russia helped in the launch of the surface-to-air missile that shot down a Malaysian Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
Power said the US believes the plane was likely downed by an SA-11 missile fired from an area in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. She said Russia has provided SA-11s and other heavy weapons to the separatists.
She said a Western reporter earlier reported an SA-11 system in separatist-controlled territory “and separatists were spotted hours before the incident with an SA-11 SAM system close to the site where the plane came down.”
“Separatists initially claimed responsibility for shooting down a military transport plane, and claimed responsibility and posted videos that are now being connected to the Malaysian Airlines crash,” Power said. “Separatist leaders also boasted on social media about shooting down a plane, but later deleted these messages.”
“Because of the technical complexity of the SA-11, it is unlikely that the separatists could effectively operate the system without assistance from knowledgeable personnel. Thus, we cannot rule out technical assistance from Russian personnel in operating the systems,” she said.
“If indeed Russian-backed separatists were behind this attack on a civilian airliner, they and their backers would have good reason to cover up evidence of their crime,” Power told the council. “Thus it is extremely important than an investigation be commenced immediately.”
An angry Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday demanded an independent enquiry into the downing of a Malaysian jetliner and said Russia’s response to what he called a crime was “deeply, deeply unsatisfactory.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “This tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the military actions had not been renewed in southeast Ukraine…And, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy.”
Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, questioned why Ukrainian aviation authorities allowed a passenger flight through an area of armed clashes where anti-aircraft systems were working. Churkin said ensuring the security of civilian aviation in a state’s airspace is the responsibility of that state.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: “The initial response of the Russian ambassador was to blame Ukraine for this and I have to say that is deeply, deeply unsatisfactory…I want to say to the Australian people that as far as I am concerned, when you have a situation where Russian-backed rebels appear to have killed Australians using it may well turn out to be Russian-supplied heavy weaponry, Australia takes a very dim view indeed and we want the fullest possible investigation.”
Abbott added, “It’s very important that we don’t allow Russia to prevent an absolutely comprehensive investigation so that we can find out exactly what happened here… This is not an accident, it’s a crime. And criminals should not be allowed to get away with what they’ve done. So there has to be a full, impartial international investigation and Russia should certainly not be allowed to stand in the way of that.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called it an “act of terrorism” and demanded an international investigation. He insisted his forces did not shoot down the plane. Ukraine accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down a Malaysian jetliner with 298 people aboard, sharply escalating the crisis and threatening to draw both East and West deeper into the conflict. The rebels denied downing the aircraft.
Ukraine’s security services produced what they said were two intercepted telephone conversations that showed rebels were responsible. In the first call, the security services said, rebel commander Igor Bezler tells a Russian military intelligence officer that rebel forces shot down a plane. In the second, two rebel fighters — one of them at the crash scene - say the rocket attack was carried out by a unit of insurgents about 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of the site. Neither recording could be independently verified.
Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Sergey Kavtaradze, a special representative of the Donetsk People’s Republic leader, as denying that the intercepted phone conversations were genuine.
Bodies, debris and burning wreckage of the Boeing 777 were strewn over a field near the rebel-held village of Hrabove in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border, where fighting has raged for months.
The aircraft appeared to have broken up before impact, and there were large pieces of the plane that bore the red, white and blue markings of Malaysia Airlines - now familiar worldwide because of the carrier’s still-missing jetliner from earlier this year.
The cockpit and one of the turbines lay at a distance of one kilometer (more than a half-mile) from one another. Residents said the tail was about 10 kilometers (six miles) farther away. Rescue workers planted sticks with white flags in spots where they found human remains.