U.S. Cites Evidence Rebels Downed Malaysian Airlines Jet
The United States on Friday ramped up its suspicions that pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine felled a Malaysian jetliner, asserting there was “credible evidence” that a Russian-built antiaircraft system in a rebel-held location had fired the missle that destroyed it, killing all 298 people aboard and scattering the wreckage over miles of rolling farmland.
The accusations, made by Samantha Power, the United Nations ambassador, at an emergency Security Council meeting on the Ukraine conflict, were the first public remarks by a top American official pointing fingers directly at the separatists and their Russian associates for the destruction of the Malaysia Air Lines Boeing 777-200. The aircraft was at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet in a commonly used air route over eastern Ukraine when it was struck on Thursday.
Both Russia and the separatist groups have denied any responsibility, and some rebel leaders have suggested Ukraine’s armed forces may have shot down the plane.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has implicitly blamed Ukraine’s government, saying it created the conditions for the separatist uprising that has escalated into a major crisis. But Mr. Putin has not denied that a Russian-made weapon may have destroyed the aircraft.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/19/world/europe/malaysia-airlines-plane-ukraine.html?emc=edit_na_20140718
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