Ukraine Rebels Hand over Plane Black Boxes
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A senior separatist leader, Aleksander Borodai, handed over black boxes from an airliner downed over eastern Ukraine to Malaysian experts in the city of Donetsk.
"Here they are, the black boxes," Borodai told a room packed with journalists at the headquarters of his self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic as an armed rebel placed the boxes on a desk.
Both sides then signed a document, which Borodai said was a protocol to finalise the procedure.
Colonel Mohamed Sakri of the Malaysian National Security Council said the two black boxes were "in good condition", Reuters reported.
The 15-member council unanimously adopted an Australian-drafted resolution demanding those responsible "be held to account and that all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability".
"We owe it to the victims and their families to determine what happened and who was responsible," said Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who travelled to New York to negotiate the UN resolution. Australia lost 28 citizens in the crash.
Bishop told the council that Russia "must use its influence over the separatists" to ensure access to the site.
Veto-wielding councilmember Russia voted for the resolution after some changes were made to the text, including the characterisation of the incident as the "downing" of the airliner instead of "shooting down".
