Putin Gets 'One Last Chance' Amid World Anger

Dutch PM Mark Rutte says he pressured Russian leader
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 20, 2014 1:35 PM CDT
Putin Gets 'One Last Chance' Amid World Anger
Ukrainian Emergency workers carry a victim's body in a body bag near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, July 20, 2014.   (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Leaders around the world are exerting pressure on Vladimir Putin—especially Dutch PM Mark Rutte, who says he gave Russia's leader a mouthful over the handling of remains from Malaysia Airlines MH17, the Guardian reports. In a "very intense" conversation, Rutte said he gave Putin "one last chance to show he means to help" rescuers recover crash victims, including 193 Dutch nationals. "I was shocked at the pictures of utterly disrespectful behavior at this tragic spot. It's revolting." David Cameron urged the EU to consider new relations with Russia unless Putin takes action, and John Kerry demanded that investigators be allowed on the crash site.

Russia agreed yesterday to back an open investigation led by the UN (and a Moscow-based aviation group), but Washington says that's all talk so far, the Washington Post reports. "It’s another case of the Russians saying one thing and doing another,” said a top Obama official. Meanwhile, international investigators say unknown "experts" are bagging bodies at the site, and Ukraine is accusing pro-Russia fighters of removing 38 victims and destroying plane evidence; other reports have them looting bodies of valuables. Adding to circumstantial evidence that rebels shot down the plane, CNN quotes a Russian-website report that they raided a missile facility last month and acquired a Buk surface-to-air missile system. (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)

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