Secretary of State John Kerry laid out evidence of Russian complicity in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and demanded that Moscow take responsibility for actions of pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, who Washington suspects of downing the jet with a missile, according to The Associated Press.
Without outwardly blaming Moscow for the shooting down of the plane, Kerry put forward the most detailed U.S. accusations so far,based on the latest U.S. intelligence assessments, the AP reported. Moscow denies any involvement in the disaster and has blamed the Ukrainian military.
Kerry said the United States had seen supplies moving into Ukraine from Russia in the last month, including a 150-vehicle convoy of armored personnel carriers, tanks and rocket launchers given to the separatists, according to the AP.
It had also intercepted conversations about the transfer to separatists of the Russian radar-guided SA-11 missile system, which it blames for the Boeing 777's destruction, the AP reported. "It's pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia," Kerry said in an interview on CNN.
"There's enormous amount of evidence, even more evidence that I just documented, that points to the involvement of Russia in providing these systems, training the people on them," Kerry said on CBS, according to the AP.
Kerry's evidence of a Russian connection tracked closely with an official un-classified U.S. intelligence summary released over the weekend which said intelligence analysts confirmed the authenticity of an audiotaped conversation provided to the press by Ukrainian authorities of a known separatist leader boasting of downing the plane, the AP reported.
"We also have information indicating that Russia is providing training to separatist fighters at a facility in southwest Russia" that includes missile systems, it said, according to the AP.
European Union ministers should be ready to announce a fresh round of sanctions at a meeting of the EU's Foreign Affairs Council this week, said a statement from British Prime Minister David Cameron's office, issued after telephone calls with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the AP reported.
"They ... agreed that the EU must reconsider its approach to Russia and that foreign ministers should be ready to impose further sanctions on Russia when they meet on Tuesday," it said, according to the AP. The leaders also agreed to press Putin to ensure investigators had free access to the crash site.
