You're reading: Foreign Ministry: Moscow views Australian prime minister remarks on plane crash as unacceptable

Moscow has taken note of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot's public remarks accusing Russia in connection with the crash of a Malaysian passenger plane over Ukrainian territory and considers them unacceptable, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

“We view Mr. Abbot’s remarks as unacceptable. It is at least perplexing that they have been uttered by the leader of a country that likes so much to underscore its commitment to impartial and fair justice system principles,” Lukashevich said in a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry website.

“Without troubling himself to present proof and dealing merely with conjectures, Mr. Abbot named those guilty of what happened even before the investigation was started,” Lukashevich said. “In his words, they are Russian-backed rebels and the Russian side. A demand has also been put forward for the government of the Russian Federation that it must assure full cooperation in the investigation into the circumstances of the civil aircraft’s death,” it said.

“The Russian side has stated repeatedly that it insists on an extremely impartial and open investigation into the causes and circumstances of the accident and declared its willingness to contribute, in close interaction with the partners concerned, to making the real picture of what happened available to international public,” he said.

“Mr. Abbot should have addressed his demands on cooperation in investigating the tragedy not to us but to the Ukrainian authorities that bear full responsibility for what happens on this country’s territory. This responsibility will have to be shared also by the countries that, despite our repeated warnings, have in fact encouraged Kyiv’s punitive operation against its own citizens in the southeastern part of the country,” he said.

“Taking this opportunity, we would like once again to express our sincere condolences to the families and beloved ones of those who died in this disaster, among whom, as is known, there are Australian citizens,” he said.