MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militia is controlling most of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash site, DPR Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin said in an interview with RIA Novosti Saturday.
"For the most part, we are controlling [the crash site]. They [pieces of the wreckage] are just lying there, and the most amazing part is, as it turns out, that neither the European side, nor anyone else needs them. The situation is very strange in my opinion," Purgin said.
When asked about how he assesses the work of international investigators at the crash site, Purgin said that "It’s hard to be called work, because there was no work done."
"The work was conducted by our Emergencies Ministry staff, they collected more than 300 bodies on 20 square kilometers [7.7 square miles]. This is what I call work. It was not international investigators who searched the wreckage for personal belongings. Black boxes were also found not by international investigators. We had been looking forward for their arrival, they arrived here in groups of 3-4 people but stayed only for a short while," the DPR prime minister added.
On July 17, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk. All 298 people on board died in the crash.
The cause of the crash is still not clear, as the Ukrainian authorities claim the independence supporters of the eastern regions shot down the plane, but the latter say they do not possess the means to hit a target flying that high.
The investigation into the crash has been hindered by the ongoing fighting between the Ukrainian military and local militia in the region.
