PM DEMANDS PUTIN END REBEL SUPPORT

By PRESS ASSOCIATION

Published: 11:04 EST, 21 July 2014 | Updated: 11:05 EST, 21 July 2014

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David Cameron has called on Russian president Vladimir Putin to end his support for separatist rebels in Ukraine, as he warned of a "new range of hard-hitting economic sanctions" as Europe responds to the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Cameron said Russia was facing a "defining moment" and warned that Europe would fundamentally change its relations with its giant eastern neighbour if Mr Putin continued to foment violence and instability in Ukraine.

The Prime Minister dismissed Mr Putin's denial of responsibility for the crash as "bluster and obfuscation" and told him to use his influence over the pro-Russian separatists to ensure access to the crash site for international experts seeking to repatriate the bodies of the 298 victims and investigate the cause of the tragedy.

Prime Minister David Cameron as he updates MPs in the House of Commons, London following the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday July 21, 2014. See PA story AIR Malaysian. Photo credit should read: PA Wire

Rejecting claims that Ukraine's armed forces may have fired the surface-to-air missile which downed the Malaysian jet at 33,000 feet, Mr Cameron told MPs: "The picture is becoming clearer and the weight of the evidence is pointing in one direction. MH17 was shot down by an SA-11 missile fired by separatists."

Giving his condolences to the friends and families of those who died, including 10 Britons, the PM - wearing a black tie - said: "Alongside sympathy for the victims, there is also anger.

"There is anger that this could happen at all, there is anger that the murder of innocent men, women and children has been compounded by sickening reports of looting of victims' possessions and interference with the evidence and there is rightly anger that a conflict that could have been curtailed by Moscow has instead been fomented by Moscow."

As well as using his influence on the separatists to ensure access to the crash site, Mr Cameron said Mr Putin "must use his influence to end the conflict in Ukraine by halting supplies and training for the separatists".

And he added: "We must establish proper long-term relationships between Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine and the EU and above all between Russia and the EU, Nato and the wider West".