MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russian and Finnish presidents held a phone conversation Wednesday where they stressed the need to put an end to fighting in the Malaysian Boeing crash area in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
“The goal of an immediate ceasefire in the plane crash zone was brought into the spotlight,” the Kremlin said in its statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinisto, also agreed it was high time the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) took the lead in the international investigation into the crash of a Malaysian airliner that killed all 298 people on board. The plane came down last Thursday in the contested Donetsk region.
“Vladimir Putin and Sauli Niinisto urged to start an immediate and thorough international investigation under the aegis of ICAO into the disaster that struck the Malaysian airliner in the Donetsk region, in accordance with UN Resolution 2166 of July 21,” the Kremlin said.
On July 17, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine, near the city of Donetsk. Ukrainian authorities place the blame for the crash on local militia, while the latter maintain they do not have the means to shoot down a plane flying at 32,000 feet.
On Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an international inquiry into the plane crash. The 15-member council said in a resolution it “supports efforts to establish a full, thorough and independent international investigation into the incident in accordance with international civil aviation guidelines."
