Wolf, Warner, Kaine All Blame Putin, Russia For Downed Plane
WINCHESTER — Russia must be held responsible for last week’s downing of a civilian airliner over war-torn Ukraine, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-10th, said Monday afternoon.
He was joined in condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin by Virginia’s U.S. senators, Democrats Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.
“Clearly, the Russians are to blame, the Russian separatists supported by the Russian government, and indirectly and sometimes directly, it’s Putin,” Wolf said of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot out of the sky on Thursday, killing all 298 people on board.
Ukraine has been embroiled in turmoil since last winter, when Russian separatists in the Crimea region rebelled against Ukraine’s sovereignty.
President Barack Obama has accused those separatists of firing the anti-aircraft missile that took out the Malaysian jet.
“The fact they would’ve gotten that equipment probably from the Russians, that takes a lot of training ... to fire something like that,” Wolf said. “Did they tell them to shoot? Nobody knows.”
That needs to be the focus of an in-depth investigation, he said.
And, if Russian rebels mistook the passenger jet for a Ukranian military plane, “they ought to get up and apologize quickly,” Wolf said.
“And do something about it,” he added.
That’s what the U.S. did when the military mistakenly shot down an Iranian passenger plane over the Persian Gulf 26 years ago, Wolf said.
“We quickly apologized and quickly acknowledged it,” he said.
Kaine and Warner also laid the blame at Putin’s feet.
In a statement Monday, Warner said he supports strong sanctions proposed by the U.S., and said the European Union must ensure there are consequences.
“There must be an investigation of the how and why this commercial airliner was shot down, and if it is found that Russia or Russian-backed and supplied separatists in Eastern Ukraine committed this act, the responsibility must fall on Vladimir Putin, who has been supplying increasingly more sophisticated weaponry to the separatists and fueling this conflict,” his statement says.
Kaine issued a statement Friday.
“Yesterday’s shocking missile attack on a Malaysian Air flight over Ukraine rips away the last pretense regarding Vladimir Putin’s intentions,” it states. “By encouraging and arming separatists in eastern Ukraine, Putin has shown a complete disregard for the sovereignty of that nation. If investigators confirm it to be true that the separatists engaged in this attack on innocent travelers, I hope that the entire global community, especially European nations, join in a vigorous effort to punish and sanction Russia for its dangerous support to separatists and their illegal behavior.”
Obama needs to be organizing and mobilizing the United States’ European allies, according to Wolf.
“This is when President Obama has to provide leadership,” he said. “We cannot lead from behind here. You can deny landing rights for Aeroflot [Russian Airlines] in Europe and in the United States. I think ultimately those who are responsible have got to be brought to trial.”
Additional sanctions can be placed on Russia, too, Wolf said.
On Monday, the United Nations Security Council voted for an international investigation to be done of the crash and for rebels to allow investigators to the scene, the Associated Press reported.
“We should all speak out and condemn this,” he said. “This was an act of terror. We can’t have airliners being shot down. Whether it was a mistake or not, we don’t know, but they’re not even allowing investigators to the scene.”
Wolf said both the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board should be on the ground at the crash site.
The crash is the latest episode demonstrating “the world’s aflame,” Wolf said, citing increased violence throughout the Middle East.
“And, when this happens, one little thing can make a difference,” he said.
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