Russia’s President Vladimir Putin assured that his country would do everything to ensure security in Eastern Ukrainian site of Malaysian Airliner crash.
“Russia’s President Vladimir Putin issued a brief video statement overnight on Monday 21 July, in which he called for the security of the Malaysia Airlines crash site to be guaranteed, and promised that Russia would do “everything in its power” to ensure that the conflict moved from the military sphere to the negotiating table,” Head of Europe and CIS Analysis Alisa Lockwood of IHS Country Risk in an analysis said.
“Putin’s statement again obliquely referred to Ukrainian responsibility for the crash, emphasising that if the military operations had not resumed on 28 June, the incident would not have taken place.”
However, he also for the first time alluded to a broader responsibility, saying that “all people who are responsible for the situation in the region” must increase their accountability. This deliberately ambiguous phrasing could be read by Putin’s domestic audience as referring to Western powers, but overall Putin’s stance appears to be conciliatory.
Moreover, Russia has not yet issued a commensurate response to the new US sanctions, opting only for further visa bans on US citizens. However, until concrete steps are observed such as Russia securing the border and withdrawing troops, it would be too soon to presume that the Kremlin is fully onboard with containing the separatist threat.”