Rebels ‘mistook’ MH17 for war jet, Russia faces world fury
Security experts don’t rule out Russian military hand; tapes add to suspicion
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama Friday said evidence so far indicates Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile from an area in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
The US’ permanent representative to the UN, Samantha Power, went as far as to say, “We cannot rule out Russian technical assistance.”
Seemingly building a case that would pin blame for the disaster — which left all 295 on board the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight dead — on the rebels, Obama said a “steady flow of support from Russia” had included anti-aircraft weapons. “Russia can end this war. Russia must end this war,” added Power. Calling for the crash site to be preserved, she said, “All evidence must be undisturbed. Russia needs to help make this happen.”
But western-based defence and intelligence specialists said the separatists were hastily covering up all links to the Buk missile battery suspected to have been used. Photographs and video purportedly showing a Buk battery being moved in rebel-held area close to the crash site were removed from a separatist website.
Earlier, Ukrainian intelligence published a tape claiming to be a recording between rebels and Russian intelligence in which they realised there had been a catastrophic blunder. A Nato intelligence specialist quoted by military analysts said the recordings “show that Russian ‘helpers’ realise they now have an international incident on their hands — and they probably also gave the order to erase all evidence”.
Defence analysts with Russian expertise expressed scepticism that the rebels would have the expertise to fire the missile and suggested it was more likely to have been Russian ground troops specializing in air defence.
Major General Robert Latiff, a former US weapons developer and now a professor at Notre Dame University, said he leaned towards the belief that it was a case of mistaken identity. “A radar return from an airplane like this would look very similar to that from a cargo plane, as was initially claimed by the separatists. If radar was all they were using, that is a shame.”
Meanwhile, as world leaders reacted with shock and fury and urged a rapid, independent and international effort to investigate the crash, an isolated Russian President, Vladimir Putin, called for opposing sides in Ukraine to lay down arms and enter talks.
Emergency workers at the crash site said two ‘black box’ flight recorders had been recovered and 181 bodies located. But access to the site remains difficult and dangerous and it was unclear if the black boxes were in government or rebel hands.