US names Putin as MH17 culprit

The White House said yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was "culpable" in the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over a the war zone in Ukraine and reiterated it was working with the European Union and G7 to impose further sanctions on Moscow.

The charge follows Pentagon officials as saying that Moscow was transferring sophisticated rocket systems to Ukrainian separatists, reports the Wall Street Journal.

It said American officials have evidence that Russia would provide heavier, more powerful rocket systems, including anti-aircraft weapons like the SA-11 system said to have brought down flight MH17 on July 17, to the rebels, who have been struggling to counter the Ukrainian military in recent weeks.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest made some of his strongest comments since the Boeing 777-200 was shot down, tying the incident to Russia, which the United States has criticised for providing arms to Ukrainian separatists.

"What we also know is that the Malaysia Airlines jet was brought down by a missile that was fired from the ground. It was fired from the ground in an area that was controlled by separatists, and in an area where the Ukrainians themselves were not actually operating anti-aircraft weapons at that time," Earnest told reporters at the White House.

"So that is why we have concluded that Vladimir Putin and the Russians are culpable to this tragedy," he said.

"Whether it is the Russians themselves that pulled the trigger or Russian separatists trained by Russians, it's all the same, it all goes back, ultimately, to Vladimir Putin," he was quoted as saying in WSJ.

The WSJ also quoted Col Steve Warren, a Defence Department spokesman, as saying the Russians intended to deliver powerful ground-to-ground rocket systems "imminently."

"We know that they've transferred tanks, artillery, multiple launch rocket systems. We have indications that the Russians intend to supply heavier and more sophisticated multiple launch rocket systems in the very near future," Warren said. "We believe that they are able to transfer this equipment at any time, at any moment."

Meanwhile, Vice-President Joe Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about the investigation into the crash as well as the country's political dynamics yesterday, the White House said separately.

"President Poroshenko underscored that despite the dissolution of the governing coalition in Ukraine's parliament, the government would continue its work to address critical economic reforms," it said in a statement.

"President Poroshenko also informed the vice-president that Russia continued to supply heavy weapons and equipment to the separatists, and that Ukrainian troops were increasingly coming under direct fire from positions on the Russian side of the border," it said.

Biden told Poroshenko the United States was working with the European Union and the G7 on imposing further sanctions on Russia for its "deeply destabilising and irresponsible actions in Ukraine."

In Brussels, after discussions on broadening the sanctions from the current mix of asset freezes and travel bans, the legal instruments required to give effect to the new punitive measures would be taken up on Tuesday, AFP quoted the EU as saying.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, "will swiftly table the necessary legislative proposals in all areas identified" by member states earlier this week, a statement said.

- TMI