Russia will support an Australian-sponsored United Nations Security Council resolution to provide unfettered access to the MH17 crash site and to set up an independent investigation into the disaster, according to reports.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Australian Financial Review reported on Monday afternoon that Russia's Ambassador to Australia Vladimir Morozov said that provided the resolution is not aimed at Russia, ''we will support it''.
"This resolution is supported by Russia...so long as it does not blame somebody,'' he said.
Mr Morozov added that Russia was as ''keen to find out who is responsible [for the disaster] as the rest of the international community''.
"We can talk about blame after that,'' Mr Morozov said.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is currently in the United States where Australia is preparing to sponsor a UN Security Council resolution that it is understood will condemn the disaster, call for immediate access to the crash site and demand an independent investigation.
The Security Council is expected to hold a meeting on Monday in New York.
As one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, Russia has the power to veto any substantive resolution.
Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that Australia would view any veto ''very badly'' and that Australia was crafting a resolution that ''no reasonable person'' could object to.
Mr Abbott said that along with a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin overnight, he had also spoken to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande.
He said the mood of the leaders was ''firmer and sterner . . . than it was''.
