Orkhan Sattarov, the head of the European Bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza
The incident with the crashed Malaysian Boeing-777, which led to the deaths of almost 300 people, became not only a human tragedy, but also an international political row. Obviously, every party which is involved in the Ukrainian crisis blames each other for crashing the civilian liner and tries to use the tragedy for its own benefit. And if the Russian mass media and experts are focused on proving the guilt of the unfriendly Ukrainian army, the Western countries are doing their best to prove the guilt of Russia or pro-Russian militant forces which are acting in Ukraine. Both sides are using similar instruments.
A content analysis of articles and news of the leading European mass media shows that European journalists insist on a Russian trace in the tragedy. For example, De Telegraaf in the Netherlands published a photo of pro-Russian militants headlined “Murderers.” German newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau, the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, the French newspaper Liberation, and many other European periodicals are sure that Russia or pro-Russian militants are guilty of the tragedy. Almost all Western mass media are reporting that experts of the OSCE have no access to the crash zone and that militants continue to destroy evidence. For example, the European media is spreading statements by the Ukrainian authorities that 38 bodies were sent to Donetsk to hide the involvement of the militants in the tragedy.
Meanwhile, the European mass media is publishing articles whose essence is that “ordinary citizens of Russia are against the policy of their government.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published an article on a commemorative event near the Netherlands embassy in Moscow, as if Russian citizens wrote banners which said that they were sorry for the activity of their government.
In the context of the growing confrontation between the West and Russia, the German position on the Ukrainian issue is especially interesting, as this is a country which defines pan-European policy. Despite espionage scandals which seemed to be an irritant in relations between Germany and the USA, today key politicians in Berlin have a position which is similar, if not identical, to the position of Washington. After the tragedy, Angela Merkel and Barack Obama talked by telephone and discussed further sanctions against Russia.
The vice-president of the ruling CDU party in the Bundestag, Andreas Schokendorf, told Rheinische Post that a UN peacemaking contingent should be sent to Southeast Ukraine. According to the German politician, Germany could participate in the peacemaking operation under a certain resolution by the UN. However, the coordinator on relations with Russia of the German government, socialist Gernot Erler, stands against the initiative. According to Erler, a peacemaking operation should be approved by all participants of the conflict and should be directed at implementation and support of a peace settlement plan. “There is no sense in involving UN peacemakers before the sides start negotiations and agree on a peace settlement plan,” Erler thinks.
A CDU MP, the chairman of Bundestag Foreign Political Committee, Norbert Rotgen, accuses Russia of involvement in the incident with the crashed liner. “Soldiers and military vehicles are coming to Ukraine from Russia. Putin could prevent this, but he didn’t,” he said. “Probably nobody wanted the events, but they can cause uncontrolled escalation.”
Obviously, without the final results of the investigation, German officials aren't making accusatory statements. However, we can see that the information background of the tragedy and statements by the ruling faction of Germany mean that the German political elite, as well as other European countries, has a negative view on the role of Russia in the incident with the liner. The confrontation between the West and Russia is growing, and it seems the tragic fate of passengers of the Malaysian liner won’t be a reason for reconsideration of their activities by all sides of the conflict. The tragedy would remain another turn of the geopolitical conflict which we are witnessing.
