FM: Russia to push for investigation of ‘snipers’ case’ in Ukraine

On board of Boeing 777-200 of the Malaysia Airlines, which departed from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing and got missing from radars, were nationals of 13 countries.

The aviation company says on board were 227 passengers and twelve crew. Chinese citizens - 154, Malaysian - 38, Indonesian - 12, Australian - 7, the US - 4, France - 3, New Zealand, Canada and Ukraine - two each, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria - one each. Among the passengers were two children - from China and from the US.
The aviation carrier says the pilot is very experienced: his flying hours make 18,000. He has been working with the Malaysian Airlines since 1981.

A recent intercepted phone conversation between Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton gave grounds to assume snipers who had shot at protesters and police in Kiev during riots could have been hired by radical Ukrainian protest leaders.

On March 5, a telephone talk between Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and the EU’s Ashton was made public in the Internet. In the leaked audio, the Estonian minister tells her that people on both sides, policemen and demonstrators, were killed by the same snipers. Paet says a doctor identified only as Olga had told him on a visit to Kiev that snipers may have come from the opposition.
"So that there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition," he said, referring to the former opposition to deposed President Viktor Yanukovich.