WASHINGTON — President Obama is calling the behavior of Russian-backed separatists an “insult” to families who lost loved ones in the downing of the Malaysian plane and demanding the fighters turn over the bodies of the victims.
Speaking on the South Lawn of the White House Monday morning, Obama noted that Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine have been removing bodies of the fallen, and denying international teams access to the site, four days after a missile took out the passenger jet and killed all 298 aboard.
“All of which begs the question: What exactly are they trying to hide?” Obama said, calling for “immediate access” to the crash site.
He called the separatists’ actions since the shoot-down — which the US also blames on the separatists — an “insult to those who’ve lost loved ones” and behavior that has “no place in the community of nations.”
With a growing body of evidence pointing to their culpability, the separatists only allowed investigators access to part of the crash site, and for a limited time.
Bodies were left to rot in the heat, until eventually they were transferred to a refrigerated train car. Evidence at the crime scene remains scattered around the landscape in rebel-controlled Ukraine.
The remains of those who perished were handled “without the care” that would normally accompany such “solemn, sacred work,” Obama noted.
Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, was even stronger, telling CNN: “This is barbarian style, how they are treating these victims.”
Obama said Russia and President Vladimir Putin bear “direct responsibility,” and repeated his preference of finding a “diplomatic resolution” to the Ukrainian conflict.
He said the costs to Russia will “continue to increase” if its actions continue, but failed to spell out how. The US has already imposed multiple rounds of sanctions against key Russian power brokers and businesses.