A release from the White House included the transcript of President Obama's remarks regarding the
downing of the Malaysian airliner. The White House also released a video of the president, which is below as well.
The full remarks are below the video and are not edited:
11:52 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody.
Yesterday,
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 took off from Amsterdam and was shot
down over Ukraine near the Russian border. Nearly 300 innocent lives
were
taken -- men, women, children, infants -- who had nothing to do with
the crisis in Ukraine. Their deaths are an outrage of unspeakable
proportions.
We
know at least one American citizen, Quinn Lucas Schansman, was killed.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family for this terrible loss.
Yesterday,
I spoke with the leaders of Ukraine, Malaysia, and the Netherlands. I
told them that our thoughts and prayers are with all the families and
that the American people stand with them during this difficult time.
Later today, I’ll be speaking to Prime Minister Abbott of Australia,
which also suffered a terrible loss.
By
far, the country that lost the most people on board the plane was the
Netherlands. From the days of our founding, the Dutch have been close
friends
and stalwart allies of the United States of America. And today, I want
the Dutch people to know that we stand with you, shoulder to shoulder,
in our grief and in our absolute determination to get to the bottom of
what happened.
Here’s
what we know so far. Evidence indicates that the plane was shot down
by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area that is
controlled
by Russian-backed separatists inside of Ukraine. We also know that
this is not the first time a plane has been shot down in eastern
Ukraine. Over the last several weeks, Russian-backed separatists have
shot down a Ukrainian transport plane and a Ukrainian
helicopter, and they claimed responsibility for shooting down a
Ukrainian fighter jet. Moreover, we know that these separatists have
received a steady flow of support from Russia. This includes arms and
training. It includes heavy weapons, and it includes
anti-aircraft weapons.
Here’s
what must happen now. This was a global tragedy. An Asian airliner
was destroyed in European skies, filled with citizens from many
countries.
So there has to be a credible international investigation into what
happened. The U.N. Security Council has endorsed this investigation,
and we will hold all its members -- including Russia -- to their word.
In order to facilitate that investigation, Russia,
pro-Russian separatists, and Ukraine must adhere to an immediate
cease-fire. Evidence must not be tampered with. Investigators need to
access the crash site. And the solemn task of returning those who were
lost on board the plane to their loved ones needs
to go forward immediately.
The
United States stands ready to provide any assistance that is
necessary. We’ve already offered the support of the FBI and the
National Transportation
Safety Board, which has experience in working with international
partners on these types of investigations. They are on their way,
personnel from the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board.
In
the coming hours and days, I’ll continue to be in close contact with
leaders from around the world as we respond to this catastrophe. Our
immediate
focus will be on recovering those who were lost, investigating exactly
what happened, and putting forward the facts.
I
want to point out there will likely be misinformation as well. I think
it's very important for folks to sift through what is factually based
and what
is simply speculation. No one can deny the truth that is revealed in
the awful images that we all have seen. And the eyes of the world are
on eastern Ukraine, and we are going to make sure that the truth is out.
More
broadly, I think it's important for us to recognize that this
outrageous event underscores that it is time for peace and security to
be restored in
Ukraine. For months, we’ve supported a pathway to peace, and the
Ukrainian government has reached out to all Ukrainians, put forward a
peace plan, and lived up to a cease-fire, despite repeated violations by
the separatists -- violations that took the lives
of Ukrainian soldiers and personnel.
Moreover,
time and again, Russia has refused to take the concrete steps necessary
to deescalate the situation. I spoke to President Putin yesterday in
the wake of additional sanctions that we had imposed. He said he
wasn’t happy with them, and I told him that we have been very clear from
the outset that we want Russia to take the path that would result in
peace in Ukraine, but so far at least, Russia has
failed to take that path. Instead, it has continued to violate
Ukrainian sovereignty and to support violent separatists. It has also
failed to use its influence to press the separatists to abide by a
cease-fire. That’s why, together with our allies, we’ve
imposed growing costs on Russia.
So
now is, I think, a somber and appropriate time for all of us to step
back and take a hard look at what has happened. Violence and conflict
inevitably
lead to unforeseen consequences. Russia, these separatists, and
Ukraine all have the capacity to put an end to the fighting. Meanwhile,
the United States is going to continue to lead efforts within the world
community to de-escalate the situation; to stand
up for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine; and to
support the people of Ukraine as they courageously work to strengthen
their democracy and make their own decisions about how they should move
forward.
Before
I take just a couple of questions let me remark on one other issue.
This morning, I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel about the
situation
in Gaza. We discussed Israel’s military operation in Gaza, including
its efforts to stop the threat of terrorist infiltration through tunnels
into Israel. I reaffirmed my strong support for Israel’s right to
defend itself. No nation should accept rockets
being fired into its borders, or terrorists tunneling into its
territory. In fact, while I was having the conversation with Prime
Minister Netanyahu, sirens went off in Tel Aviv.
I
also made clear that the United States, and our friends and allies, are
deeply concerned about the risks of further escalation and the loss of
more innocent
life. And that’s why we’ve indicated, although we support military
efforts by the Israelis to make sure that rockets are not being fired
into their territory, we also have said that our understanding is the
current military ground operations are designed
to deal with the tunnels, and we are hopeful that Israel will continue
to approach this process in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and
that all of us are working hard to return to the cease-fire that was
reached in November of 2012.
Secretary
Kerry is working to support Egypt’s initiative to pursue that outcome.
I told Prime Minister Netanyahu that John is prepared to travel to the
region following additional consultations.
Let
me close by making one additional comment. On board Malaysian Airlines
Flight MH17, there were apparently nearly 100 researchers and advocates
traveling
to an international conference in Australia dedicated to combating
AIDS/HIV. These were men and women who had dedicated their own lives to
saving the lives of others and they were taken from us in a senseless
act of violence.
In
this world today, we shouldn’t forget that in the midst of conflict and
killing, there are people like these -- people who are focused on what
can be
built rather than what can be destroyed; people who are focused on how
they can help people that they’ve never met; people who define
themselves not by what makes them different from other people but by the
humanity that we hold in common. It’s important
for us to lift them up and to affirm their lives. And it’s time for us
to heed their example.
The
United States of America is going to continue to stand for the basic
principle that people have the right to live as they choose; that
nations have
the right to determine their own destiny; and that when terrible events
like this occur, the international community stands on the side of
justice and on the side of truth.
So with that, let me take just a couple questions. I’ll start with you, Julie.
Q Thank you, Mr. President.
Just on a technical matter, does the U.S. believe that this passenger
jet was targeted, or that those
people who shot it down may have been going after a military -- thought
they were going after a military aircraft? And more broadly, this
incident does seem to escalate the crisis in Ukraine to a level we
haven’t seen before. Does that change your calculus
in terms of what the U.S. and perhaps Europe should be doing in terms
of a response?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it’s too early
for us to be able to guess what the intentions of those who might have
launched this surface-to-air missile might have had. The investigation
is going to be ongoing, and I think what we’ll
see is additional information surfacing over the next 24 hours, 72
hours, the next week, the next month.
What we know right now, what we have
confidence in saying right now is that a surface-to-air missile was
fired and that's what brought the jet down. We know -- or we have
confidence in saying that that shot was taken within a territory
that is controlled by the Russian separatists.
But I think it’s very important for us to make
sure that we don't get out ahead of the facts. And at this point, in
terms of identifying specifically what individual or group of
individuals or personnel ordered the strike, how it
came about, those are things that I think are still going to be subject
to additional information that we’re going to be gathering. And we’re
working with the entire international community to make sure that the
focus is on getting to the bottom of this thing
and being truthful.
And my concern is obviously that there’s been a
lot of misinformation generated in eastern Ukraine generally. This
should snap everybody’s heads to attention and make sure that we don't
have time for propaganda, we don't have time
for games. We need to know exactly what happened. And everybody needs
to make sure that we’re holding accountable those who committed this
outrage.
With respect to the second question, as you’re
aware, before this terrible incident happened we had already ratcheted
up sanctions against Russia. And I think the concern not just of
Russian officials but of the markets about the
impact that this could have on the Russian economy is there for all to
see.
I made clear to President Putin that our
preferred path is to resolve this diplomatically. But that means that
he and the Russian government have to make a strategic decision: Are
they going to continue to support violent separatists
whose intent is to undermine the government of Ukraine? Or are they
prepared to work with the government of Ukraine to arrive at a
cease-fire and a peace that takes into account the interests of all
Ukrainians?
There has been some improved language at times
over the last month coming from the Kremlin and coming from President
Putin, but what we have not seen is an actual transition and different
actions that would give us confidence that
that's the direction that they want to take.
And we will continue to make clear that as
Russia engages in efforts that are supporting the separatists, that we
have the capacity to increase the costs that we impose on them. And we
will do so. Not because we’re interested in
hurting Russia for the sake of hurting Russia, but because we believe
in standing up for the basic principle that a country’s sovereignty and
territorial integrity has to be respected, and it is not the United
States or Russia or Germany or any other country
that should be deciding what happens in that country.
Q At this point do you see any U.S. military role that could be effective?
THE PRESIDENT: We don't see a U.S. military
role beyond what we’ve already been doing in working with our NATO
partners and some of the Baltic States, giving them reassurances that we
are prepared to do whatever is required to meet
our alliance obligations.
Steve Holland.
Q Sir, thank you. How much blame for this
do you put on President Putin? And will you use this incident now to
push the Europeans for stronger action?
THE PRESIDENT: We don't exactly know what
happened yet, and I don't want to, as I said before, get out ahead of
the facts. But what I do know is, is that we have seen a ticking up of
violence in eastern Ukraine that, despite the
efforts of the Ukrainian government to abide by a cease-fire and to
reach out and agree to negotiations, including with the separatists,
that has been rebuffed by these separatists. We know that they are
heavily armed and that they are trained. And we know
that that’s not an accident. That is happening because of Russian
support.
So it is not possible for these separatists to
function the way they’re functioning, to have the equipment that they
have -- set aside what’s happened with respect to the Malaysian Airlines
-- a group of separatists can’t shoot down
military transport planes or, they claim, shoot down fighter jets
without sophisticated equipment and sophisticated training. And that is
coming from Russia.
So we don’t yet know exactly what happened
with respect to the Malaysian Airlines, although obviously we’re
beginning to draw some conclusions given the nature of the shot that was
fired. There are only certain types of anti-aircraft
missiles that can reach up 30,000 feet and shoot down a passenger jet.
We have increasing confidence that it came from areas controlled by the
separatists. But without having a definitive judgment on those issues
yet, what we do know is, is that the violence
that’s taking place there is facilitated in part -- in large part --
because of Russian support. And they have the ability to move those
separatists in a different direction.
If Mr. Putin makes a decision that we are not
going to allow heavy armaments and the flow of fighters into Ukraine
across the Ukrainian-Russian border, then it will stop. And if it
stops, then the separatists will still have the capacity
to enter into negotiations and try to arrive at the sort of political
accommodations that Mr. Putin himself says he wants to see. He has the
most control over that situation, and so far, at least, he has not
exercised it.
Q Tougher sanctions in Europe -- will you push for them?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that this
certainly will be a wake-up call for Europe and the world that there are
consequences to an escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine; that it is
not going to be localized, it is not going to be
contained. What we’ve seen here is -- just in one country alone, our
great allies, the Dutch, 150 or more of their citizens being killed.
And that, I think, sadly brings home the degree to which the stakes are
high for Europe, not simply for the Ukrainian
people, and that we have to be firm in our resolve in making sure that
we are supporting Ukraine in its efforts to bring about a just
cease-fire and that we can move towards a political solution to this.
I’m going to make this the last question. Lisa Lerer, Bloomberg.
Q Do we know yet if there were other
Americans on board beyond the person you mentioned? And how do you
prevent stricter restrictions, economic sanctions from shocking the
global economy and --
THE PRESIDENT: We have been pretty methodical
over the last 24 hours in working through the flight manifest and
identifying which passengers might have had a U.S. passport. At this
point, the individual that I mentioned is the sole
person that we can definitively say was a U.S. or dual citizen.
Because events are moving
so quickly, I don’t want to say with absolute certainty that there might
not be additional Americans, but at this stage, having worked through
the list, been in contact with the Malaysian
government, which processed the passports as folks were boarding, this
is our best assessment of the number of Americans that were killed.
Obviously that does nothing to lessen our outrage about all those
families. Regardless of nationality, it is a heartbreaking
event.
With respect to the effect of sanctions on the
economy, we have consistently tried to tailor these sanctions in ways
that would have an impact on Russia, on their economy, on their
institutions or individuals that are aiding and abetting
in the activities that are taking place in eastern Ukraine, while
minimizing the impacts on not only the U.S. economy but the global
economy.
It is a relevant
consideration that we have to keep in mind. The world economy is
integrated; Russia is a large economy; there’s a lot of financial flows
between Russia and the rest of the world. But we feel confident
that at this point the sanctions that we’ve put in place are imposing a
cost on Russia, that their overall impact on the global economy is
minimal. It is something that we have to obviously pay close attention
to, but I think Treasury, in consultation with
our European partners, have done a good job so far on that issue.
Thank you very much, everybody.
The 9th annual Shoreline Jewish Festival will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Aug. 10 on the Guilford Green, according to a release. 
