Jet Attack Puts Putin in Corner; 'This Isn't His Plan A'
By Henry Meyer and Nicole Gaouette Jul 18, 2014 8:37 AM ET
President Vladimir Putin’s intransigence over Ukraine risks turning him into a global pariah should the blame for downing a Malaysian Air jet fall on pro-Russia rebels.
The crash of the Boeing Co. (BA) 777, which had 298 people on board, followed by less than 24 hours the imposition of new sanctions against Russia that targeted major energy companies and banks. While the rebels denied accusations by the Ukrainian government that they shot down the flight, U.S. military and intelligence officials said the evidence so far indicates a Russian-made missile hit the plane.
“If there is solid evidence that it is the militants who did it and the weapon originated in Russia, there will be really strong pressure on Putin to really contribute to de-escalation,” Masha Lipman, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said by phone. “This should change the way all nations, and not just the West, regard this conflict in Ukraine, and Russia’s role in it.”
Putin, whose popularity has soared to near-record levels since March, when he annexed Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, denies accusations of supplying arms and volunteers and says he’s trying to broker a peace settlement. The Russian leader yesterday expressed condolences over the tragedy, as did Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-17/putin-cornered-as-malaysia-jet-crash-shows-isolation-on-ukraine.html