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Najib Razak

Rebels turn over MH17 black boxes

Filip Warwick and William M. Welch
USA TODAY
Separatist soldiers unveil the black boxes of the crashed Malaysian Air airliner MH17 to Malaysian officials during a press conference  in Donestk, Ukraine, on Monday.

TOREZ, Ukraine — Under mounting world pressure, pro-Russian rebels handed over data-filled "black boxes" from the Boeing 777 downed over eastern Ukraine to Malaysian officials as victims' bodies began a grim journey back to Amsterdam.

A senior separatist leader, Aleksander Borodai, gave the data recorders recovered from the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to a delegation from Malaysia in the city of Donetsk in the early hours of Tuesday.

"Here they are, the black boxes," Borodai said at the headquarters of his self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Reuters reported.

Col. Mohamed Sakri of the Malaysian National Security Council told the meeting the two black boxes were "in good condition."

The data recorders were sought by investigators for clues to what happened to Thursday's flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that ended in fields controlled by pro-Russian separatists. All 298 people aboard were killed.

The resolution calls for a halt to all military activities around the site and for Russian-backed separatists to allow international investigators complete access to the crash site.With Russian support, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Monday for an international investigation into the downing of the flight.

The U.N. action came after four refrigerated rail cars carrying the bodies of 282 of the 298 victims left for the city of Kharkiv, controlled by the Ukrainian national government, en route to Amsterdam. Earlier Monday, Dutch investigators were allowed to inspect the remains.

A  masked and armed rebel soldier guards the train holding bodies of MH 17 airline crash victims.

The Netherlands said 193 of its citizens were on the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the remains would be taken to Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, then will be flown to the Netherlands.

The jet crashed in a remote area near this city, a short distance from the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. The Pentagon has accused the pro-Russian separatists of shooting down the jet with a surface-to-air missile system probably provided by Russia. The rebels have blamed the crash on Ukrainian forces, and Russia has denied involvement.

The train was to be met in Donetsk by a Malaysian delegation.

Kharkiv, pop. 1.4 million, is 180 miles northwest of Donetsk and outside the area where separatists and Ukrainian forces have been fighting.

The bodies of some of the victims have still not been recovered from the huge, debris-strewn crash site near the town of Hrabove.

Separatist groups controlled the crash site area for five days and have given international investigators limited access to the area. After leaving bodies in the field for more than two days, the rebels organized teams over the weekend to begin moving the bodies to the refrigerated train car in Torez.

At the White House, President Obama called on Russia on Monday to get separatists to stop hampering the crash investigation and allow international experts free access to the crash site.

"The Russian-backed separatists who control the area continue to block the investigation," Obama said. "The separatists are removing evidence from the crash site. All of which begs the question: What are they trying to hide?"

Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin had "a direct responsibility" to compel the separatists to cooperate with the investigation. "That's the least they can do," he said.

Armed rebels had kept international inspectors at bay for days, prompting outrage from political leaders in the Netherlands and Australia, whose citizens were aboard the ill-fated jetliner.

"This is still an absolutely shambolic situation. It does look more like a garden cleanup than a forensic investigation," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday.

"Given the almost certain culpability of the Russian-backed rebels in the downing of the aircraft, having these people in control of the site is a little like leaving criminals in control of a crime scene," Abbott said.

Putin said Monday that his government was doing everything possible to allow a team of experts from the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency, to investigate the scene. He criticized the Ukrainian authorities in Kiev for reigniting fighting with rebels.

"We repeatedly called upon all conflicting sides to stop the bloodshed immediately and sit down at the negotiating table," Putin said. "I can say with confidence that if military operations were not resumed on June 28 in eastern Ukraine, this tragedy wouldn't have happened."

Donetsk came under fire Monday as fighting broke out close to the airport and the train station. A large plume of smoke rose from near the train station north of the city center.

In Torez, less than 10 miles from Donetsk, Dutch investigators, led by Peter Van Vilet, climbed aboard to inspect the rail cars, surrounded by armed rebels. The Dutch National Forensic Investigations Team — which specializes in victim recovery and identification — pressed for rebels to seal the train cars. The team was barred from traveling with the bodies to keep them secure.

Welch reported from Los Angeles. Contributing: The Associated Press

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