Video fuels Aussie anger
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says vision of the MH17 atrocity aftermath shows the “enormity” of the tragedy and highlights that it was no accident.
But Russia quickly dismissed the film as misinterpreted, saying it was no proof the plane was shot down.
The video, shot within two hours of the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane, showed Russian-backed rebels searching for a Ukrainian air force fighter jet they thought they had just shot down with a ground-to-air missile.
The film records their dismay as they discover the aircraft is a commercial airliner.
They then proceed to ransack the bags of the victims, including Australians.
Mr Abbott told ABC News 24: “It just highlights the enormity of what happened.
“It highlights the fact that this was an atrocity. It was in no way an accident.
“They may not have known that they were shooting down a civilian passenger plane, but they were deliberately shooting out of the sky what they knew was a large aircraft.
“There was a reckless indif- ference, if you like, to where that missile was going.
“And plainly, rebels don’t get hold of this kind of weaponry by accident.”
A spokesman for the Russian ambassador, Vladimir Morozov, said Russia believed the video simply showed locals responding.
“We don’t think there was anything new in this video, and it has been translated wrong and misinterpreted by the media,” he said. “It doesn’t prove those people in the video shot down MH17.”
Three independent Russian and Ukrainian speakers translated the 17-minute video.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that for relatives of the dead, “their grief is inconsolable and … then seeing this footage will be almost too much to bear”.
She said it was Australia’s firm desire that a United Nations-backed international tribunal to prosecute those responsible go ahead.