Washington: President Barack Obama on Friday said the US believes that a Malaysian jetliner was shot down by surface-to-air missiles from an area inside Ukraine that is controlled by Russia-backed separatists and sought a credible international probe into the tragedy that claimed 298 lives.
“Here is what we know so far. Evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile launched from an area that is controlled by Russia-backed separatists,” he said.
Watch: Animated video representation of Malaysian Airlines MH17 crash
“It’s too early to guess what the intentions of those who launched these missiles,” Mr Obama said. The US President, who spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, blamed Russia for the incident, saying that Russia provided sophisticated surface-to-air missiles to the Ukrainian separatists.
“He (Putin) has the most control over the situation. He has certainly not exercised (that),” Mr Obama said. Alleging that Russia has refused to take the concrete steps necessary to de-escalate the situation, Mr Obama said he spoke to Putin on Thursday in the wake of additional sanctions that US has imposed.
“He said he wasn’t happy with them, and I told him that we have been very clear that we want Russia to take the path that would result in peace in Ukraine.”
“Instead, it has continued to violate Ukrainian sovereignty and to support violent separatists. It has also failed to use its influence to press the separatists to abide by a cease-fire. That’s why, together with our allies, we’ve imposed growing costs on Russia,” he said.
Read: Ukraine searchers comb sunflowers fields for the Malaysian Airline plane debris
“We will continue to make clear that as Russia engages in efforts that are supporting the separatists, that we have a capacity to increase the costs that we impose on them, and we will do so not because we’re interested in hurting Russia for the sake of hurting Russia, but because we believe in standing up for the basic principle that a country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity has to be respected, and it is not the United States, or Russia, or Germany, or any other country that should be deciding what happens in that country,” Mr Obama said.
The plane had 100 researchers and advocates traveling to an international conference in Australia dedicated to combating AIDS/HIV, Obama said. “On board Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 there were apparently near 100 researchers and advocates traveling to an international conference in Australia dedicated to combating AIDS/HIV,” he said.
“These were men and women who had dedicated their own lives to saving the lives of others, and they were taken from us in a senseless act of violence,” he said. At least one American citizen was also killed in the tragic incident, which Obama said was a result of a surface to air missile hitting the Malaysian plane.
Read: US believes Malaysia jet hit by surface-to-air missile - US officials
“Because events are moving so quickly, I don’t want to say with absolute certainty that there might not be additional Americans, but at this stage, having worked through the list, been in contact with the Malaysian government, which processed the passports as folks were boarding. This is our best assessment of the number of Americans that were killed,” he said.
“Obviously, that does nothing to lessen our outrage about all those families, regardless of nationality. It is a heartbreaking event,” Obama said.
