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MH17 plane crash: UK wants EU to widen Russia sanctions | |
(about 7 hours later) | |
The UK is urging EU foreign ministers to impose tougher sanctions on Russia amid widespread anger over the Malaysia Airlines crash in east Ukraine. | |
France hinted that it could suspend delivery of a warship to Russia, as the ministers gathered in Brussels. | |
Earlier UK Prime Minister David Cameron attacked the sale of two French Mistral helicopter carriers - a deal also criticised by the US and other leaders. | |
The UK will also re-examine the death of Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko. | |
The former KGB officer died in 2006 in a London hospital after he was allegedly poisoned with radioactive polonium. The UK government now plans to examine whether the Russian state targeted him. | |
Mr Cameron has said there is a "reluctance" among some European countries to take more decisive action against Russia. | |
Western leaders accuse Russia of arming the rebels in eastern Ukraine, and believe they shot down flight MH17 last Thursday with a ground-to-air missile. | |
Many EU countries, including Germany and Italy, are heavily reliant on Russian gas. | |
Pressure over warships | |
When asked about the Mistral warship deal with Russia, French President Francois Hollande said the first of two ships "is almost finished and must be delivered in October". | |
The rest of the contract would depend on Russia's attitude over Ukraine, he said. | |
"But at this point no sanctions have been agreed that would force us to abandon [the contract]," he said. "We're not at that stage yet - we'll see if the Russians behave badly," he said, quoted by French news website Europe 1. | |
A source close to Mr Hollande said: "France, for now, wants the sanctions to be financial, targeted and swift." | |
The Malaysia Airlines crash in eastern Ukraine, which killed 298 people, is a "defining moment" for Moscow, Mr Cameron said on Monday, calling on the EU to consider an arms embargo. | |
He voiced disgust at the pro-Russian rebels' mishandling of plane debris and victims' remains at the disaster site. A train carrying the remains of victims from the plane has now arrived in the eastern city of Kharkiv, outside the rebel-held area. | |
Sanctions debate | |
There are fears in some EU countries that a move against Russian energy exports could undermine the fragile recovery in the eurozone, the BBC's Europe Editor Gavin Hewitt says. | |
But a deal could see sanctions on specific Russian businesses, organisations and individuals strengthened. | But a deal could see sanctions on specific Russian businesses, organisations and individuals strengthened. |
There are growing calls for the EU to match US sanctions, which target members of President Vladimir Putin's inner circle and their companies. | |
Addressing MPs on Monday, Mr Cameron said the "weight of evidence" pointed to the Malaysian jet being shot by a rebel missile and that "a conflict that could have been curtailed by Moscow has instead been fomented by Moscow". | |
He said: "President Putin faces a clear choice in how he decides to respond to this appalling tragedy. I hope he will use this moment to find a path out of this festering and dangerous crisis by ending Russia's support for the separatists. | He said: "President Putin faces a clear choice in how he decides to respond to this appalling tragedy. I hope he will use this moment to find a path out of this festering and dangerous crisis by ending Russia's support for the separatists. |
"If he does not change his approach to Ukraine in this then Europe and the West must fundamentally change our approach to Russia." | "If he does not change his approach to Ukraine in this then Europe and the West must fundamentally change our approach to Russia." |
Mr Cameron said the rest of the EU could no longer "turn a blind eye" to the crisis. | |