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Putin handed ultimatum over MH17 crash site
July 20, 2014 7:11 pm
By Alex Barker in Brussels, Andrew Parker in London and Roman Olearchyk in Grabove

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Western leaders on Sunday night set an ultimatum for Vladimir Putin as the international outcry over the treatment of bodies from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 led to calls for Russia to be further punished over its role in Ukraine.

During a weekend of fast-paced diplomacy, Britain, France and Germany warned the Russian president that he faced further sanctions on Tuesday unless he ensured that air accident investigators had full access to the crash site in eastern Ukraine

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Armed separatists on Sunday stacked body bags containing up to 200 victims into three refrigerated train wagons left idle at a train station in Torez, the town nearest to the crash site. Other remains were still uncollected near the plane wreckage, lying under baking summer heat.

Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said he was shocked by the “disrespectful behaviour” of the rebels controlling the crash site. “In defiance of all the rules of proper investigation, people have evidently been picking through the personal and recognisable belongings of the victims. This is appalling.”

John Kerry, US secretary of state, described the reports as “really grotesque” and said it was clear that Russia “supports the separatists, supplies the separatists, encourages the separatists, trains the separatists”.

As Russia and Ukraine still accuse each other of being behind the downing of MH17 last Thursday, killing 298 people, Mr Kerry said the evidence pointed to the plane being shot down by separatists using a SA-11 surface to air missile “transferred from Russia”.

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If it was the separatists, this is the inevitable outcome of giving crazy and poorly trained people very dangerous weapons,” said Samuel Charap, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington. Although Mr Putin would not let the separatists be “completely crushed”, he could “rein in” some of Russia’s support, he said.

Moscow denies involvement but endured blunt criticism from European foreign ministers. Philip Hammond, UK foreign secretary, warned Russia risked becoming a “pariah state” while Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany said Moscow had “a final opportunity” to show it was interested in a solution.

In a telephone call between Mr Putin and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on Sunday night, the two leaders agreed that “all sides in the inner-Ukrainian conflict” should guarantee a “safe working environment” for an independent international investigation.

Although there remain deep EU divisions over sanctions, some diplomats expressed hope that the disaster would act as the “wake up call for Europe” described by Barack Obama, the US president.

During calls between President François Hollande of France, Ms Merkel and British prime minister David Cameron, the three said EU foreign ministers would “draw the consequences” at a meeting on Tuesday if Mr Putin did not immediately support the recovery effort, according to the Elysee.

Ukraine’s state security service said it had evidence the separatists were trying to “hide” the black box flight recorders from MH17 and prevent them from falling into “other people’s hands”.

It released what it alleged were wiretaps of conversations between a rebel leader and fighters at the crash site saying: “Moscow is interested in where the ‘black boxes’ are.” Rebel leaders deny possessing the box.

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