We'll freeze Russian billions, furious Cameron warns..

David Cameron last night warned Vladimir Putin his billionaire ‘cronies’ will have their assets frozen in London unless he co-operates with the probe into Flight MH17.
The Prime Minister vented his fury at Russia’s obstruction in a 30-minute phone call – the first direct contact between the leaders since the jet was shot down with the loss of 298 lives.
He effectively blamed Russia, telling Mr Putin he had ‘contributed to an appalling tragedy’The Government has openly accused Russia of arming and supporting the Ukrainian rebels who shot down flight MH17.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: 'The Russians have influence, if not direct control, over these people.

'They have been supplying, they have been supporting them, they cannot deny their responsibility for the acts these people are carrying out.'

'There a growing number of strands of evidence, which looked at together in the round, lead the reasonable person to the unavoidable truth that this was a missile fired from rebel-held territory, almost certainly a missile supplied by the Russians.'

The Prime Minister has said the conflict 'could have been stopped by Moscow'.

He said all the evidence pointed to the fact that 'Flight MH17 was blown out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile fired from a rebel-held area'.

Mr Cameron said: 'If this is the case then we must be clear what it means: this is a direct result of Russia destabilising a sovereign state, violating its territorial integrity, backing thuggish militias and training and arming them.'

And he urged him to ‘change course’ by calling off the armed thugs in eastern Ukraine thought to have been behind the atrocity that left ten Britons dead.
Britain is now pushing for EU sanctions against Mr Putin’s ‘crony group’ of wealthy supporters, some of whom use London as their playground.
Downing Street refused to comment on exactly which individuals would be targeted, but there is speculation it could eventually include well-known figures such as Roman Abramovich, who has close links to the Putin regime.
No10 played down suggestions Mr Putin, who is thought to have spirited away billions, could be personally targeted at this stage.
Sanctions could also include an EU-wide ban on arms sales to Russia and curbs on the ability of Russian energy firms to raise money in Europe.
Mr Cameron, who will make a statement to the Commons on the crisis today, told Mr Putin that Russia’s stance so far was ‘completely unacceptable’.
He urged him to intervene immediately to ensure the victims, whose bodies have been removed by local militias, could have proper funerals.
A source said he told the Russian President: ‘Ten of my citizens have just been killed in a plane brought down by a missile fired by Russian separatists.
'I have been asking to speak to you since this happened. You clearly can play a role in exerting influence on the separatists to grant us access to the site.’
Earlier, Mr Cameron said the West must ‘fundamentally change our approach to Russia’ in the wake of the crisis.
Britain and Australia will today try to push through a UN Security Council resolution calling for investigators to be granted immediate access.
But British sources are gloomy about its prospects after Moscow vetoed a similar call on Saturday.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will travel to Brussels tomorrow to hammer out the details of new sanctions on Russia.

                                     

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