MH17 black boxes handed over to Dutch experts

Malaysian officials have handed over the black boxes from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 to Dutch lead investigators of the crash in rebel-held Ukraine, the Netherlands government said.

"The black boxes from flight MH17 have been handed over by Malaysian experts to the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) that is leading the international investigation," AFP reports the Foreign Ministry as saying.

The black box data recorders from the flight, allegedly brought down by a missile fired by pro-Russian separatists on Thursday, were handed over in Kiev and will be sent to Farnborough in Britain for the data to be downloaded.

"Experts from several countries, including the OVV, will travel with the black boxes to Farnborough to help with the investigation," the ministry said.

"Following the agreement Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak brokered with rebel leaders, Malaysia has taken custody of flight MH17's black boxes. As the prime minister said, they will be passed to the international investigation team for analysis,” Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement today.

“The international investigation team, led by the Netherlands,‎ has decided to pass the black boxes to the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch for forensic analysis. It is normal procedure for black boxes to be sent for analysis to the nearest laboratory authorised by the International Civil Aviation Association,” Liow said.

He added that Malaysian experts would join the investigation in Farnborough.

In Washington, Reuters reports that American intelligence officials as saying yesterday they believe pro-Russian separatists likely shot down flight MH17 "by mistake" and “(there is) no evidence of direct Russian government involvement“.

The Guardian reports that eyewitnesses in Torez said they saw what appeared to have been a BUK SA-11 missile system near the time and location of the MH17 crash.

The rebels have denied possessing any such system and blame Ukraine for the downing of the Boeing 777 while Russia has denied it provided any system to armed groups.

Last week's downing of the airliner, in which all 298 people aboard were killed, has sharply deepened the Ukrainian crisis, in which separatist gunmen in the Russian-speaking east have been fighting government forces since pro-Western protesters in Kiev forced out a pro-Moscow president and Russia annexed Crimea in March.

In Brussels, the European Union threatened Russia yesterday with harsher sanctions over Ukraine that could inflict wider damage on its economy following the downing of MH17 but it delayed action for a few days.

Efforts to forge a united front were hampered by a French announcement that the planned delivery of a warship to Moscow would go ahead despite American and British pleas to halt it.

At a meeting here, EU foreign ministers for the first time raised the possibility of restricting Russian access to European capital markets, defence and energy technology, asking the executive European Commission to draft proposals this week.

Such sanctions would require the approval of all EU governments and would apply only if Moscow does not cooperate with an international investigation into the MH17 crash in an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists, and if it fails to stop weapons flowing into the country.

"I am happy that we have taken a decision which is I think quite forceful and that we have reached this decision unanimously," Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans told reporters after the meeting.

Timmermans opened the meeting after a minute's silence was held in memory of the 298 people – 193 of them Dutch – who died when flight MH17 crashed last Thursday en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

The ministers agreed to widen the list of individuals and entities targeted by asset freezes and visa bans, and opened up the possibility of imposing sanctions on people who give financial support to Russian decision-makers.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said London wanted the measures to target friends and allies of President Vladimir Putin to pressure Russia to stop meddling in Ukraine.

"The word is 'cronies': the cronies of Mr Putin and his clique in the Kremlin are the people who have to bear the pressure," he said.

"If the financial interests of the group around the leadership are affected, the leadership will know about it."

Yesterday's meeting took place as the United States piled pressure on Europe, which is wary of antagonising a vital energy supplier, to move fast against Russia.

The president of the former Soviet republic of Lithuania, now an EU member, accused France of pursuing a policy akin to the 1930s appeasement of Nazi Germany over its decision to go ahead with the delivery of a helicopter carrier to Moscow.

EU envoys will discuss the wider target list for existing sanctions tomorrow. – Agencies, July 23, 2014.