Australian FM pushes for UN resolution on MH17

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SYDNEY: Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop arrived in New York on Monday to push for a tough United Nations resolution calling for immediate access to the MH17 crash site and an independent international investigation into the missile strike that brought down the Malaysian Airlines flight, Xinhua News reported.

Bishop said in a media statement she hoped a resolution would be passed as soon as possible with the United Nations Security Council meeting on Monday in New York.

“I say to the separatists and the Russian government that backs them, that there are 298 bodies on that site. Their families, their loved ones want them home now,” she said in a statement.

“This is not a time to use bodies as hostages or pawns in a Ukrainian-Russian conflict.”

She said the United Nations is an appropriate forum to express global outrage at an attack that had affected so many nations.

“Australia has a great deal at stake here – 37 Australians 28 citizens and a number of permanent residents of Australia were on that flight,” Bishop said.

“They have been murdered and the Australian government will not rest until we are able to bring the bodies home to the Australian families who are waiting for them, and will not rest until an independent investigation is established that is impartial and thorough and competent and able to determine who is responsible for this and they are brought to justice.”

Bishop arrived in Washington DC on Sunday and received detailed briefings from US intelligence officials at the residence of Australian Ambassador Kim Beazley.

She said those meetings confirmed that “the possibilities as to what caused this crash have narrowed”.

Bishop said separatists had restricted access to the site, moved bodies and tampered with evidence.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the MH17 investigation and heard “all the right things”.

The Kremlin’s website also confirmed the conversation between Putin and Abbott, with the Russian president “expressing his sincere condolences on the death of Australian citizens in the crash of an airliner”.

The website statement added that Russia had taken steps to promote an international investigation into the circumstances of the crash and “both sides stressed the importance to the completion of the investigation to avoid politicized statements in connection with the tragedy”.