USA: International relations expert hopeful that Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 tragedy will prompt breakthrough in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine

Record ID: 335828

  • Title: USA: International relations expert hopeful that Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 tragedy will prompt breakthrough in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine
  • Date: 18th July 2014
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 17, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR ROBERT ENGLISH, SAYING: "From the Western side, the U.S. can only do so much. So long as the Europeans take this moderate stance, so long as the Europeans don't want to risk their trade relations with Moscow, it can't make a great deal of difference so what I expect to see now
  • Embargoed: 2nd August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA3I5GPN28M26WZRGQY757CERFI
  • Story Text: A Malaysian airliner was brought down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday (July 17), killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels that has set Russia and the West at daggers drawn.
    As the United States said the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was "blown out of the sky", probably by a ground-launched missile, Ukraine and Russia traded accusations of blame, cranking up global pressure for a way out of a bloody local conflict that risks fueling a new Cold War.
    Ukraine accused pro-Moscow militants, aided by Russian military intelligence officers, of firing a long-range, Soviet-era SA-11 ground-to-air missile. Leaders of the rebel Donetsk People's Republic denied any involvement and said a Ukrainian air force jet had brought down the intercontinental flight.
    But separatists have said that they took control of such a missile system last month and had used it to shoot down a Ukrainian military transport plane that was destroyed on Monday.
    The scale of the disaster, which left scores of unsuspecting foreigners, adults and children, strewn lifeless across the muddy Ukrainian steppe, could prove a turning point for international pressure to resolve the crisis. It has killed hundreds in since protests toppled the Moscow-backed president in Kiev in February and Russia annexed the Crimea a month later.
    According to professor Robert English, the director of the school of international relations at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the international incident could exert pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin to distance himself from Russian-backed separatists.

    "I'm an incorrigible optimist, I'm always looking for the silver lining in the cloud, it's possible that this could the impetus towards a breakthrough in the following way: it will increase pressure on the Russian side so tremendously that the international condemnation that will follow if its confirmed that the Russian-backed separatists did this, the increased economic sanctions which are already hurting but those will push Putin towards a serious negotiation now and really sever ties with those separatists and in fact begin trying to rein them in," says professor Robert English, Director of the University of Southern California (USC) School of International Relations.
    English says that if there is enough international outcry over the disaster, it could spell trouble for Putin's support within Russia.

    "You're going to see Russians protesting," says English.
    "Many Russians, liberal, pro-western Russians still supported the annexation of Crimea because they saw that as a historic injustice, a historic accident, but those Russians will not support anything this barbaric, they're horrified that their government could be supporting separatist rebels who in turn, could shoot down a civilian airline. That's something very different, and we could see Putin's domestic support really begin to crack, and lose a really important constituency and apply pressure at home."
    The Ukrainian government, condemning an act of "terrorism", released recordings it said were of Russian intelligence officers discussing the shooting down of a civilian airliner by rebels who may have mistaken it for a Ukrainian military plane.
    Russian President Vladimir Putin pinned the blamed on Kiev for renewing its offensive against the rebels two weeks ago after a ceasefire failed to hold. The Kremlin leader called it a "tragedy" but did not say who brought the Boeing down.
    After the downing of several Ukrainian military aircraft in the area in recent months, including two this week, Kiev had accused Russian forces of playing a direct role. International air lanes had remained open, though only above 32,000 feet. The Malaysia plane was flying 1,000 feet higher, officials said.
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