Those who are responsible must be held accountable! No kowtow to Putin!

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) is disappointed about the EU's restrained reactions to the downing of MH 17 in Eastern Ukraine. "The families of the victims are demanding answers to the pressing question of responsibility for this terrible crime against humanity. As long as the EU continues its dithering and as long as the German representatives join in Vladimir Putin's unfair games, there will not be any answers," criticized the STP's expert for questions concerning the CIS-states, Sarah Reinke, on Wednesday. "Even if the downing of the passenger plane was a mistake, the deaths of almost 300 innocent civilians must not be ignored – by any side!"

Thus, Putin has broken all the rules by trying to deceive the rest of the world for months, by not keeping to agreements and proposals concerning a de-escalation of the situation in Ukraine. "The Russian president must finally be measured by his actions, not by his words," demanded Reinke. "If not even the illegal annexation of the Crimea, the permanent arms deliveries and the deployment of troops from Russia to Eastern Ukraine could lead to a change of the European attitude, at least the fact that a civil aircraft was shot down must have consequences."

Sarah Reinke - head of the Berlin office and STP's expert on Eastern Europe - is available for further questions: Tel. 030 428 048 91 or berlin@gfbv.de.