2014-07-29 12:45:00

US says Russia violates arms treaty


(Vatican Radio) The United States says Russia has violated a key arms control treaty by testing 

a nuclear cruise missile. Washington’s allegations come while Moscow is also facing more sanctions for allegedly supporting pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine and firing rockets from  Russian territory into Ukraine.

Ongoing clashes have hampered an international investigation at the site where a Malaysian Airlines passenger plane was shot down this month, killing all 298 people on board. 

A U.S. senior official told media that Russia tested a ground-launched cruise missile, violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in 1987 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The official, whose name was not released, described the alleged breach as "very serious".

The bilateral agreement banned medium-range missiles, with ranges between 500 and 5,500 km.

Washington’s claims added to tensions between the two sides over Ukraine. The U.S. has accused Russia of supporting pro-Russian separatists, who allegedly fired the missile that downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17. 

FLIGHT DATA

Ukrainian officials say recovered flight data shows the plane crashed due to being punctured multiple times by shrapnel.

United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay believes the downing of the aircraft over eastern Ukraine may constitute a “war crime,” said her office representative Gianni Magazzeni.

“The High Commissioner has indicated that the shooting down of the airliner, may amount to a war crime. I think also the High Commissioner said that there is a need for a prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigation,” he said.

Yet, at the crash site an independent and effective investigation appears impossible as the area is the scene of heavy fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels. 

The violence forced monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to leave the area, said mission head Alexander Hug. 

GUNFIRE REPORTED 

“We stopped because there was gunfire and what we understood to be artillery impacts nearby, very near. We stopped the convoy, we had a discussion with our security detail. While talking, the fire came closer. So I made the decision for the OSCE to return,” he said

A team of Australian and Dutch police and forensic experts also abandoned attempts to reach the site amid security  concerns. In the Netherlands, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he had spoken by phone with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko urging him to secure access to the site and to end fighting in the area.   

In a statement released by the Dutch Government Information Service, he expressed his “deep concern about the fact that international experts have again not been able to reach the crash site, and that precious time is being wasted for storing and identifying the human remains of victims.” Poroshenko reportedly ensured Rutte that he would “do everything” in his ability to secure the site. 

These tensions have added to a sense of urgency in the West to target Russia with more sanctions. The White House says the U.S. and the European Union plan to impose new sanctions against Russia this week, including penalties targeting key sectors of the Russian economy.

All 298 people on board the downed aircraft lost their lives and more than 1,100 people are now known to have been killed in fighting in the region since April. Clashes have forced more than 100,000 people to flee the Donetsk and Luhansk  regions, which rebels declared to be independent.

Ukraine's army says it continues to recapture territory and prepares for a major battle in the key rebel-stronghold of Donetsk. 

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:








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