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West Should Demand Both Sides to Obey Ceasefire - Putin

© RIA Novosti . Alexei Nikolsky / Go to the mediabankRussian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin - Sputnik International
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the West should address its calls for a ceasefire not only to eastern Ukraine independence supporters, but to the Kiev government as well.

MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the West should address its calls for a ceasefire not only to eastern Ukraine independence supporters, but to the Kiev government as well.

“Yesterday, when the self-defense forces were handing over the so-called black boxes [of the crashed Malaysian plane], Ukraine’s armed forces have launched a tank attack on Donetsk. Tanks broke through to the railway station and attacked it. International experts at the crash site had to take cover. Why would armed militia open fire on its own positions?” Putin said during Russia’s Security Council meeting.

“We should finally call on the Kiev authorities to comply with elementary moral standards, to announce a ceasefire at least for a short period needed to investigate [the Malaysian airliner crash in eastern Ukraine],” the Russian leader stressed.

On Monday, the Ukrainian military and independence supporters agreed on a ceasefire within a 40-kilometer (25-mile) zone around the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash site in Donetsk Region, to provide access to the area for the international investigators.

Later in the day, authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic handed over two flight data recorders recovered from the crash site to Malaysian representatives in the town of Torez. Meanwhile, according to self-defense forces, Ukrainian troops equipped with tanks and armored vehicles attacked the city of Donetsk which is situated some 70 kilometers from the place where the MH17 crashed.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding the responsible for this incident to be held to account and all military activities to be immediately ceased near the crash site to allow for security and safety of the international investigation.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian Air Forces struck the city of Shakhtarsk located in 30 kilometers from the crash site.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, on July 17 ,causing death of all 298 people on board.

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