McCain blames Russian President Putin for airliner tragedy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former Presidential candidate and U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today released the following statement on the tragic shoot-down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17:

“While we await additional information regarding the circumstances of the tragic shoot-down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, we have sufficient information to know that responsibility for this heinous international crime rests, in large part, with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“As the Administration made clear today, the plane was shot down by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile, fired from an area in eastern Ukraine that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists. We also know that Russia has continuously provided these separatist groups with heavy weapons, fighters, and other military assistance, including surface-to-air missiles. We know that Russian citizens have increasingly taken over positions of leadership within these separatist groups. And we know that pro-Russian separatists have already shot down four Ukrainian aircraft in the past several weeks. Indeed, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said today, there is ‘credible evidence’ that pro-Russian separatists and their Russian supporters were responsible for yesterday’s awful tragedy.

“Russia’s culpability in yesterday’s events may become clearer in time, but it is already clear enough. As a result, the United States should begin imposing additional consequences on Russia.

“We need to provide Ukraine with the weapons and other military assistance they need to defeat the pro-Russian separatists and secure their country. We need to impose true sectoral sanctions on key Russian industries, and our European allies should join us in that effort in order to make those sanctions as effective as possible. We need to increase NATO’s military presence and activities in eastern Europe and the Baltic states, including enhanced missile defense capabilities, on an enduring, strategic basis. We need to highlight the human rights abuses and gross corruption of Russian officials and sanction those activities to the greatest extent possible. Most importantly, we need to recognize President Putin for what he is – not an objective mediator or peace partner in the conflict in Ukraine, but rather a key party to that conflict who is driven by his ambitions to restore Russia’s imperial domination of its neighbors.

“Were it not for President Putin’s consistent support and encouragement of pro-Russian separatist groups in eastern Ukraine, the murder of 298 people yesterday would never have happened. If Russia does not pay a heavy price for its culpability in this tragedy, the United States and Europe will lose all credibility, and we should only expect President Putin to grow more reckless and dangerous as a result.”