ONUS ON RUSSIA OVER MH17 DEAD
THE United States has pledged to back Australia’s fight to make Russia accountable for flight MH17, after a moving personal message from Perth’s Maslin family, who lost their three children, was read out to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“We need the Russians to continue to be held to account,” Mr Pompeo said yesterday. “You have America’s support in that and will continue to do so.”
Speaking at the annual AUSMIN summit between Australia’s foreign and defence ministers and their US counterparts, Mr Pompeo also described the relationship between the two countries as “rock solid”.
“We’re proud to call Australia one of our best friends and strongest allies,” Mr Pompeo said. “The United States and Australia both know we can count on each other constantly, even as challenges present themselves in an era of great competition and uncertainty.”
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also dismissed concerns Australia could suffer the same fate as America’s allies Canada and in Europe from the “unpredictable” and “transactional” leadership of Donald Trump.
“From my perspective the relationship is as deep and as strong as it’s ever been,” Ms Bishop said.
The bilateral between Ms Bishop, Mr Pompeo and Defence Minister Marise Payne and her US counterpart Jim Mattis, also addressed progress in denuclearising North Korea, fighting terrorism and cybercrime, as well as security in the Indo-Pacific.
Ms Bishop had made securing US support for Australian efforts at Russian accountability for MH17 one of her priorities going into the summit. Russia has never accepted responsibility for the attack.
“We are grateful for the support that they give us in relation to a matter that is very dear and personal to the hearts of all Australians,” she said.
Concerned that the US might be easing pressure on Moscow over the deaths of 294 passengers and crew in 2014, Anthony Maslin and wife Marite Norris drafted an emotional question to Mr Pompeo.
Mr Pompeo was pressed on what steps the US was taking to hold Russia to account, given increasing dialogue between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a question asked on behalf of the family, whose children “Mo, Evie and Otis were murdered on flight MH17 along with their grandfather along with 294 other innocent people”, an Australian reporter described their devastation
Mr Pompeo replied that the US would continue to seek justice for the MH17 victims, and insisted the Trump administration was “pushing back” against Russia.