The Blame Game

Blaming others for your own transgressions is widespread, so widespread that I have written several posts on this subject. Here is another.

The Financial Times reports Ukraine Accuses Russia Over Downed Military Aircraft.

Ukraine on Monday said a missile that downed a military transport plane in the east of the country was “probably” fired from across the border from Russia, as fighting in the region continued to intensify between pro-Russian rebels and government forces.

The accusation came a day after Russia’s government warned of “irreversible consequences” after a Russian citizen was killed by a shell that Moscow alleged had been fired from Ukraine, marking a surge in rhetoric by both sides.

The Ukrainian authorities said they had lost contact with the Antonov-26 military transport carrier at 09.30 GMT while it was travelling at a height of 6,500 metres, above the height reachable by rebel anti-aircraft weapons.

The plane was shot down in the region of Lugansk, a rebel stronghold in the east of Ukraine near the porous eastern border with Russia. Fierce fighting has broken out near the city of 400,000 people in recent days.

Commenting on the incident, Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s new pro-western president, said “newly developed Russian arms systems have been used against Ukraine’s armed forces in the past three days”. He also claimed Russian officers were taking part in military attacks against Ukraine’s forces.

In a phone call on Sunday, David Cameron, UK prime minister, and Barack Obama, US president, agreed Europe and the US should take co-ordinated measures to escalate sanctions against Russia if it did not take immediate steps to reduce tensions in the east of Ukraine.

The Russian government denied any moves or plans to attack Ukraine. A Kremlin official said attempts to blame the shooting down of the Ukrainian aircraft on Moscow was “a malicious attempt to exacerbate tension”.