Putin, allies accused of destroying evidence

UKRAINE yesterday accused Russia and pro-Moscow rebels of destroying evidence to cover up their guilt in the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner that has accelerated a showdown between the Kremlin and Western powers.

As militants kept international monitors away from wreckage, and scores of bodies festered for a third day, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the rebels to co-operate and insisted that a UN-mandated investigation must not leap to conclusions. Moscow denies involvement.

After US President Barack Obama said the loss of the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight showed it was time to end the conflict, European powers seemed to swing behind Washington’s belief that Russia’s separatist allies were to blame.

That might speed new trade sanctions on Moscow, without waiting for proof.

Britain’s prime minister David Cameron agreed with Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte that the EU, warier than Washington of hurting its own economy by imposing sanctions, should reconsider its approach due to evidence of rebel guilt.

German chancellor Angela Merkel, spoke to Putin yesterday, urging his co-operation.

Merkel’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper: “Moscow may have a last chance now to show that it really is seriously interested in a solution. Now is the moment for everyone to . . . think to themselves what might happen if we don’t stop the escalation.”

Driving home its assertion that the Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian SA-11 radar-guided missile, Ukraine’s Westernbacked government said it had “compelling evidence” the battery was not just brought in from Russia, but manned by three Russian citizens, who had now taken the truck-mounted system back over the border.

The prime minister, said only a “very professional” crew could have brought down the speeding jetliner from 33 000 feet — not “drunken gorillas” among the ill-trained insurgents who want the Russianspeaking east to be annexed by Moscow.

Observers from Europe’s OSCE security agency visited part of the crash site near the village of Hrabove for a second day on Saturday and again found their access hampered by armed men from the forces of the self-declared People’s Republic of Donetsk. An OSCE official said, however, they saw more than on Friday.

“The terrorists, with the help of Russia, are trying to destroy evidence of international crimes,” the Ukrainian government said.

“The terrorists have taken 38 bodies to the morgue in Donetsk,” it added.—