WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama called on Russia and its separatist fighters in Ukraine to agree to an immediate ceasefire following what the U.S. claims was a missile attack that brought down a Malaysian passenger airliner Thursday killing all 298 people on board.
Although Obama was careful in his statements Friday about the crash of Flight 17, it was clear that he blamed Russia for its continued support of separatist fighters battling Ukrainian forces and the escalation of the conflict.
“Evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area that was controlled by a Russian-backed separatists inside Ukraine,” he said.
He noted that separatists have shot down in the last few weeks a Ukrainian troop transport plane, a Ukrainian helicopter and claimed responsibility for shooting down a Ukrainian fighter jet.
“We know that these separatists have received a steady flow of support from Russia. This includes arms and training,” he said. “It includes heavy weapons and it includes anti-aircraft weapons.”
He called the attack on the passenger plane a “global tragedy” and a “catastrophe.”
“So there has to be a credible international investigation into what happened,” he said. “The UN Security Council has endorsed this recommendation and we will hold all its members including Russia to their word to facilitate that investigation.”
He cautioned Russia not to tamper with the evidence and to assure that investigators have access to the crash site. There are unconfirmed reports that separatists have seized the planes black box and sent it to Russia.
Noting that most of the passengers killed in the crash were Dutch citizens, Obama said he wanted to let the Dutch people know that “we stand shoulder to shoulder in our grief and in our absolute determination to get to the bottom of what happened.”
Obama appeared at times to stumble through his statement and did not know the number of Dutch people killed, claiming it was about 150 when the airline has stated it is 189.
“No one can deny the truth that is revealed in the of the awful images that we all have seen and the eyes of the world are on eastern Ukraine and we are going to make sure that the truth is out,” he said.
Obama intimated that unless Russia acts to de-escalate the conflict, it could be faced with more sanctions, but rejected military action. This week the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Russian company that makes the missile system allegedly used to shoot down Flight M-17.
“I think it is important for us to recognize that this outrageous event underscores that it is time for peace and security to be restored in Ukraine,” he said.
Earlier Friday, Samantha Powers, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was far more aggressive in her condemnation of Russia. She said the missile that hit the plane was a Russian SA-11 SAM in separatist hands fired in eastern Ukraine.
“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,” she told the UN Security Council. “Thus we cannot rule out assistance from Russian personnel in operating the systems.”
At the Pentagon, Rear Admiral said the SA-11 is a “sophisticated piece of technology (and) it strains credulity to believe that they (separatists) could do this without some measure of Russian support and assistance.”
He said Russia has trained some separatists in the operation of vehicle-borne missile systems such as the SA-11.
wmarsden@postmedia.com
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