Putin calls for peace in Ukraine after plane crash
By Associated Press
Jul 18, 2014 7:30 AM CDT
A man covers a body with a plastic sheet near the site of a crashed Malaysia Airlines passenger plane near the village of Rozsypne, Ukraine, eastern Ukraine Friday, July 18, 2014. Rescue workers, policemen and even off-duty coal miners were combing a sprawling area in eastern Ukraine near the Russian...   (Associated Press)

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says all parties in the conflict in eastern Ukraine should lay down the arms and engage in talks as soon as possible after a commercial airliner was shot down.

Putin said on Friday in comments carried by Russian news agencies that "peace in Ukraine must prevail as soon as possible" and called for direct talks between Kiev and pro-Russian insurgents.

Separatist rebels and Ukrainian government forces have been fighting each other for three months now, killing more than 400 people and displacing tens of thousands.

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