By Scott Rose and Daryna Krasnolutska Jul 18, 2014
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A Malaysia Airlines (MAS) jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, in an attack that the government in Kiev blamed on pro-Russian rebels. The separatists denied the accusation.
Ukraine’s state security service said it intercepted phone conversations among militants discussing the missile strike, which knocked Flight 17 from the sky about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border. U.S. officials said the weapon probably was a Russian-made model used widely in Eastern Europe.
The Boeing Co. 777 crashed en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam in the main battleground of Ukraine’s civil war, threatening to escalate tensions in Europe’s worst geopolitical crisis since the end of theCold War. A European air-traffic control agency routed planes away from the region, which sits astride some of the busiest routes to and from Asia.
President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly denied Russian involvement in the fighting, said Ukraine’s government bore responsibility because the crash wouldn’t have occurred without the current strife. He said he also directed Russian military and civilian authorities to “investigate this crime,” according to a transcript of his remarks to Cabinet ministers.
Calling Najib
U.S. President Barack Obama called Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to offer condolences and “immediate assistance to support a prompt international investigation,” according to a White House statement. The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on the incident later today.
While the Obama administration didn’t publicly speculate about the details of the shoot-down, one U.S. ally, Australia, said Russian support for Ukrainian separatists puts Putin’s government in line for some of the blame for the incident.
“They are Russian proxies, essentially,” Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in an interview with 3AW radio. “If, as now seems certain, it’s been brought down by a Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile, Russia bears a heavy share of responsibility.”
Flight 17 carried 283 passengers and 15 crew members, with 154 Dutch travelers making up the biggest national group, according to a tally by Malaysia Airlines. It was the second tragedy to befall the Malaysian Airline System Bhd. unit since March, when Flight 370 disappeared with 239 people on board.
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