Ukraine has accused anti-government separatists in the east of the country of looting jewelery, credit cards and money from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
The United States, Ukraine and western governments all say a surface to air missile, possibly fired by the militants blew the plane out of the sky on Thursday. On the other side, Russia’s government is putting "100-percent" of the blame on Ukraine for the downing of the plane.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Ukraine is to blame for the situation by fighting against the pro-Russian rebels in the east.
At affected foreign embassies in Moscow, Russians have been paying their respects.
Here at the Dutch embassy many Russians have come to lay flowers, show their sympathy and ask for forgiveness for what they see as their country’s role in the tragedy. Many of the messages here are testament to that. this one says, "Please believe, we are not all like that."
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin says that US statements on the downing of the plane resemble statements on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
Russia likely bears some of the responsibility for the downing of MH17, says US President Barack Obama.
"There is strong circumstantial evidence, and it’s circumstantial, that points to this being done by the rebels with Russian technical support. Though of course it should be noted that this was not premeditated, this was a tragic mistake," Pavel Felgenhauer, military analyst said.
International monitors says pro-Russian rebels have prevented them access to the site.
Ukraine’s governent says the rebels have been trying to, "destroy evidence of international crime," and export large parts of the wreckage to Russia.
President Putin says that the disaster must be investigated objectively.
"We won’t have all the results until we are able to compare the data of the United States and the of the Russian Federation, the data from Radar location stations and from systems of anti-aircraft defence. So until we have all this data, including the data from the investigation itself and the black boxes of the airplane, we won’t be able to answer these questions," Kirill Entin, research fellow said.
Malaysian investigators have had to negotiate with pro-Russian militants for access to the crash site, which has been blocked by them.
Russia’s defence ministry denies it shot down the plane.
