Interfax: Putin blames Ukraine for Boeing crash

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

MOSCOW. July 18 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine is responsible for the Malaysia Airline plane crash on Thursday.

“Definitely, the state in whose airspace this has happened bears responsibility for this terrible tragedy,” the Russian chief of state said late on Thursday night at a conference on economic issues. He proposed to start the conference with a minute of silence in the memory of the crash victims.

“The tragedy would not have happened if there had been peace on that land and the hostilities in southeastern Ukraine had not resumed,” he said.

Putin ordered the Russian government to do everything in its power to reconstruct the crash without bias. “We must do everything we can to present an objective reconstruction of this event to our public, the public of Ukraine and the world at large,” he demanded.

“These are totally impermissible things and no one has the right to disregard them, to avoid drawing relevant conclusions and obtaining objective information about the event,” the Russian president stated.

Putin said he had given instructions to Russian defense agencies “to render necessary assistance in the investigation of that crime.”

Putin once again offered condolences on behalf of the Russian leadership and government to all families of the dead and the governments of the countries whose citizens were on the plane.

 

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