Russia Dissatisfied With MH17 Report By Dutch Safety Agency
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency says a draft Dutch report into the causes of last year's crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine "raises more questions than it gives answers."
Russian news agencies quoted Rosaviatsiya deputy chief Oleg Storchevoi as saying on July 2 that the agency has “a range of weighty remarks regarding the document, stated arguments, and simply technical data."
Storchevoi expressed hope that Rosaviatsiya’s comments and questions will be reflected and answered in the final report, to be released in October.
The Dutch Safety Board has made the draft available to representatives of Australia, Britain, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States as controversy continues over who shot down the plane in July 2014, killing all 298 people aboard.
Ukraine and the West suspect it was destroyed by a Russian surface-to-air missile fired by Russian forces or separatists fighting in the area.
Russia has claimed it was downed by a Ukrainian fighter jet.
Based on reporting by AP, TASS, and Interfax
Russia Says Reporter's Expulsion From Ukraine 'Unacceptable'
The Kremlin has denounced as "completely unacceptable" the actions of Ukrainian authorities toward a reporter with Russia’s Channel One television.
Ukraine deported Aleksandra Cherepnina on July 1 for allegedly running "destructive" stories about Ukraine.
The State Security Service (SBU) said on July 2 it decided to "block the destructive actions” of Cherepnina and bar her from reentering the country for three years.
In a report about the deportation aired by Channel One, Cherepnina described being deprived by the SBU of a chance to call anyone after being detained.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine had “long turned into a place where it is both hard and dangerous for reporters to work."
And Russia’s Investigative Committee announced it had launched an "illegal deprivation of liberty" probe into the incident.
Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Ukrainian authorities “will never understand that you cannot conceal the truth by intimidating and killing reporters."
Based on reporting by AFP and TASS
RFE/RL VIDEO: Azov Battalion Stands Off With Rebels In Seaside Ghost Town
A former holiday resort on the Sea of Azov, the town of Shyrokyne now stands largely abandoned, patrolled by fighters on both sides of Ukraine's conflict. Members of the Azov Battalion, a former volunteer militia now included in the National Guard, are holed up in burned-out buildings near the coast as they trade fire with pro-Russian separatists. Askold Sirko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service interviewed the fighters during a lull in the hostilities.
Mikheil Saakashvili, the governor of Ukraine's southwestern Odesa region, says he will have a tea this evening at a cafe bombed overnight in Odesa, and calls on others to join him to express solidarity.