Rutte against Putin: MH17 is like the Kursk

In this way, he tried to put pressure on the separatists in eastern Ukraine, where the plane came down. In Zomergasten Rutte told how he tried two years ago to recover the bodies of the victims in the Netherlands.

TRAIN ON STANDING

Rutte was told by phone of an employee which MH17 had crashed. Because it was an airplane of Malaysia Airlines, he did not realize that there are many Dutch were on board initially. Half an hour later, he called again, which clearly what was the extent of the disaster.

After that Rutte was mainly concerned with the train containing bodies of victims who were stranded in the town of Torez. On Monday, July 21 - The MH17 was the Thursday before crashed - Rutte was at a meeting with relatives. "The train was not yet. Those people were desperate, "said Rutte.

CALL WITH PUTIN

There was great uncertainty about the train, because there was still fighting in the area.Rutte then tried to put the separatists under pressure to make every effort to leave the train to the airport. "I needed Vladimir Putin to ensure that the train would go away," said Rutte. He had six "long" talks with the Russian president.

That night he got a call from Dick Schoof, the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security: the train runs. "Phew. These people are no longer alive. We no longer know what we find in the train, but we can for the families at least recover as much as possible. "Rutte at the time was home alone." I had the swirling room of angry people that their children, grandchildren, loved ones not get back when I was called -. that was the only time in my job that I really whined. "

MH17 IS LIKE THE KURSK

But in the first train no means were all the bodies: on the field were still bodies and luggage.When the call came to send troops in the area. That risk was too great, the analysis showed, among other security services. Therefore unarmed investigators came to the area, who were looking for corpses.

But they were often the field not because of the fighting. For months there were human remains in the field in Ukraine.

Putin Rutte tries to play even further when he meets him in Milan. He then makes the comparison with the Kursk, a submarine that was destroyed at the beginning of Putin's reign. "That was a sacred point for him. The crew was dead, he really wanted that the bodies would be above water. It just had to happen. When I spoke to him at Milan, I said: Vladimir, the MH17 is the same as the Kursk. It is sacred. "According to Rutte was the moment when Putin understood what it was.

LOWER STONE

Rutte said shortly after the MH17 was shot down that "No stone must come up" he says now:. "I can not guarantee That disaster did not happen in Groningen, but in a war zone, I can only say that.. 100 people from the OM together with Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine there day and night work. "

By Editorial Metro: Photo: ANP / EPA