Reuters quotes extensively from a British Foreign Office statement accusing Moscow of lying about MH17 and saying it is "highly likely" the Malaysian airliner was shot down from a Russian-backed separatist area by a Russian-supplied missile. Here's part of the Reuters report, which you can find here:
The statement came after Russia's ambassador to Britain, Alexander Yakovenko, told reporters on Thursday that allegations Russia was involved in the downing crash "didn't hold water".
The Foreign Office statement, entitled "Russian myths on MH17," dismissed Kremlin assertions that it only provides humanitarian assistance to the separatists and that Western evidence to the contrary lacked credibility.
"Given the large and growing body of credible evidence, without compelling information to the contrary, we believe it is highly likely that that flight MH17 was shot down by the Russian SA-11 surface to air missile system, operating from within a Russian-backed separatist area in eastern Ukraine," it said.
"Russia has made a number of contradictory, mutually-exclusive claims which blame Ukraine for this attack, but they have no basis in fact," it added.
"Russia has not provided any evidence to support its claims."
The statement said that journalists at the scene have reported that Russian-backed separatists were preventing access to the site by investigators, deliberately tampering with the crash site, moving bodies and stealing the personal possessions of victims.
"It added, without elaborating: "Worryingly, we are aware of information suggesting that separatists were planning to scatter parts of other aircraft on the site."
Putin and Australian Prime Minister Abbott have discussed by telephone the need to allow experts to work safely in MH17 crash zone, Reuters reports, citing the Kremlin. They were said to have agreed that a cease-fire is needed.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has suggested that "it is difficult to foresee any circumstance under which Mr. Putin's Russia could be readmitted to the family of G7 nations."
Reuters highlights the remarks, delivered in a "Globe and Mail" editorial titled "Our duty is to stand firm in the face of Russian aggression." Harper writes that "through its actions, Russia under President Vladimir Putin has demonstrated that it does not share the values of this community of nations, dedicated as we are to democracy, international security, and the rule of law."
As if to underline what some critics regard as a weak-kneed European response to Russia's recent actions in Ukraine, Harper writes:
The steps Canada has taken have not been made without careful consideration of their potential impact on Canadian business interests abroad and at home. Like our allies, we will put our national interests first, but we will not allow business interests alone to dictate our foreign policy. With Mr. Putin’s Russia increasingly autocratic at home and dangerously aggressive abroad, now is not the time to ease the diplomatic and economic pressure on the regime. Sustained, strong and co-ordinated action among like-minded countries is the best way to ensure that our actions have the maximum impact on the Putin regime.
Uff. From AP:
The parents of a woman who died on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 travelled from Perth, Australia to honor their daughter at the crash site in eastern Ukraine.
Jerzy Dyczynski and Angela Rudhart-Dyczynski, parents of 25-year-old Fatima, crossed territory held by pro-Russian rebels to reach the wreckage-strewn farm fields outside the village of Hrabove.
They last spoke to Fatima shortly before she boarded the flight for Kuala Lumpur in Amsterdam on July 17.
Rudhart-Dyczynski said, "We have promised our daughter we will come here."
Her husband added that his daughter "was for peace. She will be forever for peace."
But today @CoalsonR is hopping mad at a certain ex-president. :-)
Re-upping this @CoalsonR piece aimed at getting to the bottom of some of the claims and counterclaims surrounding MH17.
Untangling the countless he said/she said disputes in the Ukraine crisis under conditions of an intense and coordinated disinformation campaign is hard enough. But it is even harder in the Internet age when information appears and disappears and reappears with the frustrating randomness of whack-a-mole.