A train carrying the remains of most of the 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over Ukraine left the site today, after the Malaysian prime minister reached a deal with the leader of pro-Russian separatists controlling the area.
The aircraft’s black boxes, which could hold information about the crash in rebel-held eastern Ukraine but will not pinpoint who did it, would be given to the Malaysian authorities, prime minister Najib Razak said, indicating he had bypassed Kiev, which has lost control of much of the east.
The expected handover of the bodies and the black boxes, and reports by international investigators of improved access to the wreckage of the airliner four days after it was shot down, weakened a new case for broader sanctions against Russia laid out by Western leaders struggling to agree a united response
The Malaysian leader said he had reached an agreement with the separatists for 282 recovered bodies to be handed over to the authorities in the Netherlands, where the largest number of victims came from.
The shooting down of the airliner last Thursday sharply deepened the Ukrainian crisis, in which separatist gunmen in the Russian-speaking east have been fighting government forces since pro-Western protesters in Kiev forced out a pro-Moscow president and Russia annexed Crimea in March.
Shaken by the deaths of 298 people from across the globe, Western governments have threatened Russia with stiffer penalties for what they said is its backing of pro-Russian militia who, their evidence suggests, shot the plane down. But, with Russia challenging them to produce proof, some of those taking a firmer line are saying the acid test will be if the separatists improve access to the site and Russia stops supporting them.
European Union foreign ministers are due to discuss further penalties tomorrow, but the most they are expected to do is to speed up implementation of sanctions against individuals, and possibly companies, agreed in principle last week before the plane was brought down.
Diplomats say more serious sanctions against whole sectors of the Russian economy will depend largely on the line taken by the Dutch, due to the number of Dutch victims.
Praise for recovery crews
Emotions ran high in the Netherlands, where prosecutors opened a war crimes investigation.
Prime minister Mark Rutte told parliament his government’s priority was to recover and identify the bodies of the passengers.
“It is clear that Russia must use her influence on the separatists to improve the situation on the ground,” Mr Rutte said.
“If in the coming days access to the disaster area remains inadequate, then all political, economic and financial options are on the table against those who are directly or indirectly responsible for that,” he said.
US president Barack Obama echoed that approach.
“Now’s the time for President Putin and Russia to pivot away from the strategy that they’ve been taking and get serious about trying to resolve hostilities within Ukraine,” he said at the White House.
Mr Putin and Russia have a direct responsibility to compel separatists to cooperate with the investigation, and the burden is now on Moscow to insist that separatists stop tampering with the investigation, he said.
European security monitors said gunmen stopped them inspecting the site when they arrived on Friday, and Ukrainian officials said separatists had tampered with vital evidence, allegations echoed by Mr Obama.
“What are they trying to hide?” the US president said.
