Moscow Says Ukraine Fighter Jet Flew near Malaysian Plane before Crash

Russia on Monday said its flight records show a Ukrainian fighter jet was flying close to the Malaysian passenger airliner just before it crashed and that Kiev was operating radar stations used for missile systems.

Moscow also denied supplying Ukrainian separatists with Buk missile systems or any other weapons, as it sought to head off international accusations it was responsible for the downing of the Malaysian plane with 298 people on board.

Armed with a number of slides, charts and images, two high-ranking officials of Russia's General Staff laid out a case against Ukraine at a specially called briefing.

Lieutenant-General Andrei Kartopolov said the Malaysian plane strayed north of its planned route, adding that a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet, which is typically equipped with air-to-air missiles, had been recorded in the proximity of the Boeing 777.

The Malaysian plane "deviated from its route to the North ... The maximum deviation was 14 kilometers," he said.

"An altitude gain was recorded for a Ukrainian armed forces plane," he told the briefing. "Its distance from the Malaysian Boeing was three to five kilometers (two to three miles)," he said, noting that the SU-25 is capable of reaching a height of 10,000 meters "for a brief time."

"With what aim was a military plane flying along a civilian aviation route practically at the same time and at the same flight level as a passenger liner?" said Kartopolov. "We would like to receive an answer to this question."

He also said that the Russian defense ministry detected unusual activity from radar stations that are used to operate missile systems on the day of the tragedy.

"From July 17 (Thursday) the intensity of the operation of Ukrainian radar stations increased to the maximum," said Kartopolov.

He said seven radar stations were operating close to the area of the disaster on Tuesday, eight on Wednesday and nine on the day of the crash, Thursday.

After the crash, just four radar stations were operating in the area on Friday and just two on Saturday, he added, citing data.

Kartopolov insisted Russia had not supplied Ukrainian separatists with Buk missile systems or any other weapons.

"I want to stress that Russia did not give the rebels Buk missile systems or any other kinds of weapons or military hardware," he told reporters.

Meanwhile, Dutch forensic experts on Monday began examining the bodies from the MH17 plane disaster, as world leaders denounced the "shambolic" state of the crash site left in the hands of pro-Russian rebels.

The Dutch public prosecutor's office also said it had opened a preliminary criminal probe into the downing of flight MH17.

"An officer from the prosecutor's office, Thijs Berger, is in Kiev at the moment," spokesman Wim de Bruin told Agence France Presse.

Under Dutch law, the Netherlands can prosecute war crimes suspects, even for alleged crimes committed abroad, if one or more victims is Dutch.

There were 193 Dutch citizens on the doomed plane, which is believed to have been brought down by a missile fired by pro-Russian separatists.

The prosecutor's office could not say what Berger would do in Ukraine as part of the probe.

Kiev's prime minister said the remains of some 250 victims of the 298 killed when the flight went down last week, apparently shot by a surface-to-air missile, had been recovered and moved to train cars, and could be transferred to the Netherlands.

But the bodies are in rebel-held territory where Kiev holds no sway, near the city of Donetsk where intense shelling broke out again on Monday.

The U.N. Security Council is expected on Monday to adopt an Australia-backed resolution demanding that pro-Russian separatists grant unrestricted access to the crash site for international experts.

Patience was wearing thin over Moscow's stance, even as President Vladimir Putin pledged Russia would do "everything in its power" to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and to open access to the site.

The under-fire Russian leader appeared to seek to temper world fury after Washington said it had overwhelming evidence the missile system used to shoot down the Malaysia Airlines jet was transferred from Russia to the rebels.

After speaking with Putin, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott noted he had "said all the right things" but that he would "hold the president to his word".

"That is certainly my intention, and it should be the intention of the family of nations to hold the president to his word," Abbott said, as concerns rose over tampering with evidence including the victims' remains and the plane's black boxes.

Twenty-eight Australian nationals and nine residents were among the passengers from a dozen countries on the doomed flight.

At the Torez station, close to Donetsk, an AFP reporter witnessed the Dutch investigators, wearing masks and headlights, open each of the train wagons holding the remains of recovered bodies, amid an overpowering stench.

Even as Putin pledged to work toward dialogue between the Ukrainian rivals, intense shelling rained down in the rebel stronghold Donetsk, just 60 kilometers from Torez where the bodies are being held.

Insurgent fighters had closed off the roads in the area on the edge of the city and terrified civilians were fleeing the fighting in minibuses and on foot.

A rebel fighter told AFP that government troops had attacked their positions close to the transport hub at around 10 am (0700 GMT).

"They came within about two kilometers of the station," insurgent gunman Volodya told AFP.

Even as Dutch teams were inspecting the bodies, international investigators have yet to gain access to the actual crash site in Grabove, with debris spread out for kilometers.

"As anyone who has been watching the footage will know, this is still an absolutely shambolic situation," Australia's Abbott said.

Malaysia's transport minister Liow Tiong Lai has also expressed concerns that "the sanctity of the crash site has been severely compromised".

Only a team of conflict monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were allowed briefly to access the main crash site.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has slammed as "grotesque" the manner in which "drunken separatist soldiers" were allegedly "unceremoniously piling bodies into trucks, removing both bodies, as well as evidence, from the site".

Insurgents defended their actions, with a rebel chief saying they had moved scores of bodies "out of respect for the families".

Washington has pointedly blamed Moscow for supplying rebel with the missile system used to shoot down the passenger jet.

Kiev on Sunday released fresh recordings of what it says are intercepted conversations between rebels organizing to hide the flight's black boxes from international monitors.

And the U.S. embassy confirmed as authentic recordings released by Kiev of an intercepted call between an insurgent commander and a Russian intelligence officer as they realized they had shot down a passenger jet.

The Washington Post said Ukraine's counterintelligence chief had photographs and related evidence that three Buk M-1 anti-aircraft missile systems moved from rebel-held territory into Russia less than 12 hours after the crash.

However, top Russian officials and state media have suggested that Kiev's new leaders staged the attack to blame the rebels.

The U.N. Security Council votes at 1900 GMT on Monday on a resolution demanding that armed groups controlling the area "refrain from any actions that may compromise the integrity of the crash site... and immediately provide safe, secure, full and unrestricted access to the site and surrounding area for the appropriate investigating authorities."

The leaders of France, Britain and Germany also signaled they could ramp up sanctions against Russia as early as Tuesday -- barely a week after the last round of toughened embargoes.

The separatists' violent bid to join Russia is the latest chapter in a prolonged crisis sparked by Kiev's desire for closer ties with the EU -- a sentiment many in the Russian-speaking east do not share.