Kerry: 'Drunken separatists' interfering at MH17 crash site
July 21, 2014 -- Updated 0146 GMT (0946 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Safety of international experts at the scene must be ensured, Vladimir Putin says
- Ukrainian Cabinet says teams have found 251 bodies at the crash site so far
- OSCE observers don't know whether black boxes were found, spokesman says
- Rebel leader tells ABC: "We can and we want to give bodies to the relatives"
Grabove, Ukraine (CNN) -- Are the same separatists accused of shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 now looting, tampering with the evidence and stopping investigators from combing through the wreckage?
Three days after the passenger plane plunged to the ground, criticism over the handling of the crash site in rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine showed no signs of slowing on Sunday.
Key questions remain unanswered: What will happen to the remains of the 298 people aboard the plane that crashed Thursday? Where are the black boxes? And is there any hope investigators will be able to determine who's responsible?
Malaysia's transportation minister said an international team was "effectively being prevented from entering the crash site," adding in a statement that officials were concerned that "the sanctity of the crash site has been severely compromised."
In an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley, Secretary of State John Kerry described what he said were "drunken separatists piling the remains of people into trucks in an unceremonious fashion ... interfering with the evidence in the location."
He told NBC's "Meet the Press" that there is a "buildup of extraordinary circumstantial evidence" over the crash that Russia "needs to help account for."
And British Prime Minister David Cameron didn't mince words when he said who was to blame. In an op-ed in The Sunday Times, he called the plane crash and its aftermath "an outrage made in Moscow."
Russian President Vladimir Putin fired back with a video statement posted on the Kremlin's official website early Monday, arguing that his country has been pushing for peace in Ukraine.
"We have repeatedly called on all parties to immediately stop the bloodshed and to sit down at the negotiating table. We can confidently say that if June 28 fighting in eastern Ukraine did not resume, this tragedy most likely would not have happened," he said. "However, no one should have the right to use this tragedy to achieve selfish political objectives. Such events should not divide but unite people."
He stressed that safety must be guaranteed for international experts investigating the crash.
"We must do everything to ensure their work has full and absolute security (and) ensure necessary humanitarian corridors are provided," Putin said.
At the crash site, there were concerns the bodies had been picked over by thieves.
"The facts of looting, how the terrorists are dealing with the bodies, are beyond the moral boundaries," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted.
The local head of the rebels rejected accusations that his forces shot down the plane, denied accusations that they removed the bodies and denied responsibility when asked about people reportedly using stolen bank-issued cards taken from the victims' bodies.
"It is possible that some local residents could have searched the bodies of victims, found their cards and tried to use them. Unfortunately, I can't exclude the possibility of this," Alexander Borodai said Saturday.
Nearly 200 bodies kept in refrigerated train cars
The situation at the crash site showed some small signs of improvement on Sunday, with more control and more activity.
"Today was a better day for sure," said Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's monitoring team in Ukraine. "We were able to spend quite a bit of time out at the different crash sites."
But it was still far from a well-organized investigation scene, and the area remained under the control of pro-Russia rebels.
Government emergency workers prevented vehicles from driving up the road to the main crash site, but people could still roam the fields on foot.
Search teams have found 251 bodies at the crash site, the Ukrainian Cabinet said on its website.
Pro-Russian rebels are keeping the remains of nearly 200 MH17 victims in refrigerated train cars, Vice Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said Sunday, adding that talks were ongoing for their release.
OSCE observers went to a train station about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the main crash site to see the bodies, Bociurkiw said.
"We were able to peer inside of the cars, and it definitely was refrigerated. There was no way we could verify the count of ... bodies, but there were dozens and dozens there," he told CNN. "We were told those railway cars will remain stationary until international experts arrive."
Earlier Sunday, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that the train was headed to Donetsk.
Borodai told ABC News on Sunday that rebels want to release the remains.
"We can and we want to give bodies to the relatives, but experts have to examine the bodies here. That is international practice," Borodai told ABC.
If the remains are turned over to the Ukrainian government, Borodai said he feared that they would be used as evidence to blame his fighters for shooting down the plane -- an accusation he has repeatedly denied.
He said he guaranteed the safety of international investigators "and their ability to work."
But Ukraine's State Emergency Service said the search in the remote area of eastern Ukraine, roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Russian border, was being "complicated by armed separatists at the site who hinder the work of SES units."
Hundreds of staffers from the agency are searching for the remains of the MH17 victims, covering an area stretching across 13 square miles (34 square kilometers).
Busloads of volunteers from nearby coal mines also fanned out across the wheat fields where the bodies and debris from the plane fell.
Malaysia is sending two large military cargo planes to bring back the remains, the country's official news agency Bernama reported.
Black boxes found?
Pro-Russia rebels may have recovered the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders, Borodai said on the website of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic.
If experts determine the devices found are the so-called black boxes, they will be turned over to international investigators, Borodai said.
"These are some technical objects. We cannot say for sure these are black boxes," he said.
Borodai said the devices are under guard in the region. They will not be given to Ukrainian officials, he said.
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