The Hague : The Dutch government has not yet pointed a finger at the possible perpetrators of the Malaysian passenger plane crash in eastern Ukraine, but some Dutch newspapers seem to have their own opinions on this.
The headline of the biggest national newspaper De Telegraaf says it all with a banner headline in the front page: “MURDERERS.” The headline is accompanied by a picture of pro-Russian separatists in the region.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed Thursday in the conflict-hit Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. Of the total number of passengers, 192 were Dutch.
According to reports, the indications are that the Boeing 777 crashed after being hit by a missile.
“I do not want to speculate and point the finger,” Xinhua quoted Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as saying Friday. “I want the facts to emerge. If so, it will be more likely that an investigation is coming. It seems that the MH17 was shot down, but the precise circumstances are not yet clear. We want to rely on the facts.”
Newspaper Algemeen Dagblad supported the approach of Rutte: “As the past months show, emotions don’t solve anything.”
In the main editorial of de Volkskrant, Russian President Vladimir Putin gets the blame.
“Europe does not tolerate fumbling at borders, does not tolerate claims about defending the interest of ethnic countrymen outside their own borders and does not tolerate state propaganda fueling bloodlust,” it stated.
“Vladimir Putin is responsible for the return of all these phenomena, echoes from the darkest period of European history.”
The national broadcaster NOS limited itself to posing questions: “(Dutch) Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten said the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is ‘probably’ downed by a missile from the air. And the word ‘probably’ leads to quite a few questions: with what has the aircraft been shot down? How did that happen? And above all, who operated the weapon?”