Obama hardens his stance: "It wasn't an accident. They had support."

US President attributes responsibility to Russia for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing; "evidence" indicates that a missile fired by Ukrainian separatists destroyed the plane with 298 passengers in flight; "we know they are heavily armed and trained with Russian support," said Barack Obama in a statement at the White House; "Putin has to make a strategic decision: continue supporting the separatists or work with the Ukrainian government," he urged the Russian president; the American leader recalled that among the passengers were one hundred scientists who were to participate in a congress on AIDS.

July 18, 2014, 17:16 pmUpdated July 11, 2018, 10:52 pm

US President attributes responsibility to Russia for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing; "evidence" indicates that a missile fired by Ukrainian separatists destroyed the plane with 298 passengers in flight; "we know they are heavily armed and trained with Russian support," said Barack Obama in a statement at the White House; "Putin has to make a strategic decision: continue supporting the separatists or work with the Ukrainian government," he urged the Russian president; the American leader recalled that among the passengers were one hundred scientists who were to participate in a congress on AIDS (Photo: Ana Pupulin)

247 - President Barack Obama took to the White House podium to deliver his first in-depth statement on the international crisis triggered by the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing over Ukrainian territory. He rejected any possibility of an accident and, while stating he did not want to "get ahead of the curve," said that all the "evidence" indicates that a surface-to-air missile fired by Ukrainian separatists was responsible for the tragedy that killed 298 people.

"We know that the separatists are heavily armed and trained, and that's because of Russian support. It's not possible for them to operate the way they do with the equipment they have. A separatist group cannot shoot down a commercial airliner with the equipment they have without Russian support," the American president stressed.

And he insisted:

What happened wasn't an accident. It happened because they had support.

Obama stated in a phone call he received from President Vladimir Putin shortly after the news of the plane crash that the United States wants to resolve the crisis "through diplomatic means." But he left a direct order for his Russian counterpart:

"Putin is the person with the most control over the violent situation in Ukraine, and so far he is not exercising it," he stated. "I made it clear to Putin that our preferred path is diplomatic, but they have to make a strategic decision: continue supporting the separatists or be ready to work with the Ukrainian government," he added. Obama added that FBI and National Transportation Safety Board agents are en route to Ukraine as part of the US aid offered to that country. He emphasized that among the passengers on the flight were 100 scientists heading to a conference on AIDS.

"People who worked to save the lives of others," he lamented.