Malaysian MH17 - Putin blocking investigation

Dutch Say Inquiry Into Malaysia Jet Crash Is Being Blocked in Ukraine

MOSCOW - Pro-Russian separatist leaders in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk have blocked access to Dutch law enforcement officials pursuing an investigation into the downing of a Malaysian jetliner nearly a year ago, the Netherlands Public Prosecution Office said on Saturday.

The obstruction by separatist officials prompted the investigators, from the Dutch National Police and Ministry of Defense, to cut short their field work in Ukraine without conducting research into cellphone towers and cellular networks in the region, the public prosecution office said.

The passenger jet, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, was shot down on July 17 as it flew over the war zone in eastern Ukraine during a journey from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board, including 196 Dutch citizens.

Based on preliminary analysis and intelligence, including from the United States government, the aircraft was widely believed to have been destroyed by a surface-to-air missile fired from territory controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces.

The separatist groups, however, strongly deny that they had anything to do with the crash, and the Russian government has sought to provide evidence that the plane was fired upon by a Ukrainian jet fighter.

And on Friday, a senior Russian official said the Kremlin would oppose a plan by Malaysia calling on the United Nations Security Council to create a tribunal to try suspects in the downing of the jetliner. Calling the idea "ill-timed and counterproductive," Gennady Gatilov, a deputy foreign minister, told Russian news agencies, "We need to wait for the end of the investigation, not adopt hasty resolutions on the creation of tribunals."