Clarity on MH17 requires Putin to do what he says

Exactly what led to the Malaysian Airlines flight being shot down over eastern Ukraine remains decidedly murky, with the groups that were potentially involved each seeking to attribute blame to their rivals. While this shows the need for an independent and transparent investigation, the path to creating one will also be difficult.

The role played by Russian president Vladimir Putin in this investigation will be crucial. For plausible reasons, leaders in the West believe his actions in arming and supporting the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine hold a direct link to the loss of MH17. The kind of surface-to-air missile capable of bringing down an aircraft flying at 11,000m is likely to have been sourced in Russia and would have required technical assistance to launch it.

So far, Mr Putin’s response has only emerged via statements released from the Kremlin and from reports from Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and Malaysian defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein of their conversations with him. In each case, Mr Putin stated his commitment to a thorough, international and objective investigation, to which Russia’s military had been directed to offer full assistance.

But the rest of the world is also used to Mr Putin saying what people want to hear but then doing the opposite. During the annexation of the Crimea in March, he flatly denied that Russian special forces were in the region and supporting the supposedly citizen-led secession from Ukraine and referendum to align with Russia. A little over a month later, after the furore had mostly dissipated, he quietly admitted the mysterious “little green men” were indeed Russian troops acting on orders from Moscow.

Mr Putin has much at stake in the MH17 investigation, which has put the unwanted glare of the global attention onto Russia’s support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine in defiance of the sovereignty of a legitimately elected government in Kiev.

Mr Putin is in a position to help with the investigation into MH17, including his influence on the separatist rebels who control the area where the plane crashed and who are now also accused of destroying evidence at the scene. His apparent support for a truly independent inquiry must be followed by actions to that effect, and the international community has to hold him to account if that fails to tally with his rhetoric.