Crash in Ukraine: Russia Denounces American Accusations

The United States is accusing pro-Russian rebels of being responsible for the crash of the Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine, probably brought down by a missile.

Russian leaders are reacting. On Saturday, Russia denounced the American accusations according to which the pro-Russian rebels are responsible for the crash of the Malaysian airliner in Eastern Ukraine, probably brought down by a missile.

“The statements of representatives of the U.S. administration testify to the persistence of a deep aberration of Washington’s perception of what is going on in Ukraine,” declared the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

“Despite an obvious and indisputable nature of the arguments provided by the rebels and Moscow, the U.S. administration is pushing its own agenda,” he added.

“One cannot help but be perplexed on seeing the official representatives of certain states hurry to give their versions of the catastrophe, which amounts to influencing the conduction of the investigation,” added the Russian foreign minister in a statement.*

The Russian Deputy Prime Minister Reacts over Twitter

American President Barack Obama affirmed Friday that the Malaysian airplane, which crashed Thursday in Eastern Ukraine, was brought down by a missile fired from a zone controlled by the pro-Russian separatists, while the two sides, Ukrainian and pro-Russian, cast the blame on one another.

“The White House even before the investigation of the Boeing catastrophe clearly established who’s guilty,” added Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is known for being outspoken, over Twitter.

For its part, the daily Moskovski Komsomolets cited on Saturday a military expert who affirms that the rebels could not have had the experience and the technical capacity necessary to use a system as complex as the Bouk missile, suspected to be the weapon that caused the tragedy.

The newspaper Kommersant added for its part that the damage to the aircraft caused by the missile was similar to that suffered by a Russian airline accidentally struck by a Ukrainian army missile in 2001, a catastrophe that led to the deaths of 78 passengers.

Hollande and Poroshenko Raise Their Voices

François Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have for their part declared that they would not tolerate “any obstruction to the work of the observers,” and underlined “the importance of establishing the facts” to elucidate the crash of the Malaysian plane, the Elysée Palace indicated Saturday in a statement taken from a discussion between the two men.

In the effort to “establish the facts,” “no obstruction to the work of the international observers from ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) or the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) will be tolerated,”** according to this statement.

*Editor’s Note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.

**Editor’s note: Quotes from English sources do not mention OSCE directly.