Burden on Russia to insist Ukraine separatists stop tampering with evidence at airlines crash site - Obama

WASHINGTON, July 21 (KUNA) -- The burden now is on Russia to insist that the separatists in Ukraine stop tampering with the evidence at the Malaysian airlines crash site, and grant investigators "immediate, full and unimpeded access" to the site, President Barack Obama said on Monday.
"The separatists and their Russian sponsors are responsible for the safety of the investigators doing their work, and along with our allies and partners, we will be working this issue at the United Nations today," Obama said in a statement at the White House.
"Time is of the essence," Obama said after noting that it has been four days since Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine. "Our friends and allies need to be able to recover those who were lost. That is the least we can do. That is the least that decency demands. Families deserve to be able to lay their loved ones to rest with dignity. The world deserves to know exactly what happened. And the people of Ukraine deserve to determine their own future." If Russia continues to violate the sovereignty of Ukraine and to back the separatists, and the separatists become more and more dangerous - "and now are risks not simply to the people inside of Ukraine but the broader international community - then Russia will only further isolate itself from the international community, and the costs for Russia's behavior will only continue to increase," Obama said.
Now is the time for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia "to pivot away from the strategy that they have been taking and get serious about trying to resolve hostilities within Ukraine in a way that respects Ukraine's sovereignty and respects the right of the Ukrainian people to make their own decisions about their own lives," Obama said.
"More broadly, as I have said throughout this crisis and the crisis in Ukraine generally - and I have said this directly to President Putin as well as publicly - my preference continues to be finding a diplomatic resolution within Ukraine," Obama said. "I believe that can still happen. That is my preference today, and it will continue to be my preference." The immediate focus is on recovering those who were lost in the Malaysian jetliner crash, "investigating exactly what happened and putting forward the facts," the President said. "We have to make sure that the truth is out and that accountability exists." International investigators are organized "to conduct what should be the kinds of protocols and scouring and collecting of evidence that should follow any international incident like this, and what they need right now is immediate and full access to the crash site, " Obama said. "They need to be able to conduct a prompt and full and unimpeded as well as transparent investigation. And recovery personnel have to do the solemn and sacred work of recovering the remains of those who were lost." Unfortunately, the Russian-backed separatists who control the area continue to block the investigation, he said.
"They have repeatedly prevented international investigators from gaining full access to the wreckage," Obama noted. "As investigators approached, they fired their weapons into the air. The separatists are removing evidence from the crash site, all of which begs the question, what exactly are they trying to hide?" Moreover, the Russian-backed separatists are removing bodies from the crash site, "oftentimes without the care that we would normally expect from a tragedy like this, and this is an insult to those who have lost loved ones," he added. "It is the kind of behavior that has no place in the community of nations." Russia has extraordinary influence over the separatists, the President said.
"Russia has urged them on," Obama said. "Russia has trained them. We know that Russia has armed them with military equipment and weapons, including anti-aircraft weapons. Key separatist leaders are Russian citizens. So given its direct influence over the separatists, Russia, and President Putin in particular, has direct responsibility to compel them to cooperate with the investigation. That is the least that they can do." (end) rm.msa