KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia has secured yet another agreement with a pro-Russian separatist group in eastern Ukraine to allow international police to enter the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement Sunday that he had spoken to the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Borodai, who had agreed to allow the deployment of international officials into the Donetsk area “to provide protection for international crash investigators.”
Najib stressed Malaysia’s deep concern for the safety of those investigating the suspected shooting down of the passenger plane and what motives may lay behind it.
“I am deeply concerned that international investigators have been unable to be properly deployed to the crash site because of the volatile security situation,” he added. “I hope that this agreement with Mr. Borodai will ensure security on the ground, so the international investigators can conduct their work.”
The Kuala Lumpur-bound flight from Amsterdam crashed July 17 close to Ukraine’s tense border with Russia with 298 people on board - including 193 Dutch citizens, 43 Malaysians (15 of them crewmembers) and 27 Australians. There are no reports of any survivors.
Since the plane came down, Ukraine and Russia have exchanged accusations as to who was responsible.
The premier said Malaysia would work alongside the Netherlands and Australia to deploy the personnel, with in-depth details regarding numbers and schedules still being discussed.
As a start, sixty-eight Malaysian police personnel will leave Kuala Lumpur for the crash site Wednesday, the statement said.
On the same day, Najib is scheduled to travel to the Netherlands to meet his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte to discuss potential collaboration - mainly in the deployment of Malaysian pathologists to The Hague to expedite the victim identification process.
The PM had previously stressed that the very complex identification process could take weeks or even months, breaking from his earlier hope of returning the Malaysian victims home before the Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday Monday.
www.aa.com.tr/en
