The Russian government is directly responsible for "murder' in the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, and President Barack Obama should declassify the evidence the United States has to prove it, said Sen. Marco Rubio.
In an exclusive interview with
Newsmax TV, the Florida Republican and member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told "America's Forum" host J.D. Hayworth that he has "extremely high confidence" that there is a direct link to Russia in the downing of the plane.
"What would be helpful now is to declassify as much of the evidence as possible to show it to the world so the world can see how Russia has a direct role to play in the murder of almost 300 innocent people that were on that Malaysia airliner," he said.
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"That the Russians capacitated it by providing these weapons to separatists, this is their Frankenstein monster that they have built and they should be held accountable for it and make this evidence clear to the world like President Kennedy did during the missile crisis or how President Bush did when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait."
He added that President Barack Obama's response so far has not been satisfactory, and declassification would be the only way to convince the American people and Europeans of the clear evidence of Russia's role so as to get the necessary support for additional sanctions against Russia's defense and energy sector.
"Time and again American presidents have come before the world and the American people and showed them the evidence of the crimes and the activities of other nations around the world to rally support and that's what needs to happen here," Rubio said.
"We're going to have to show the world exactly what's happened here and only America has the capability of doing so, and so I hope that's what the president will be doing here."
Rubio added that there is no possibility that the Ukrainian government shot down the plane, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has implied, and Rubio believes the administration's classified information proves it.
He pointed out that the Russian separatist movement was in possession of anti-aircraft weapons and the aircraft was shot down in an area of Ukraine that was under the control of Ukrainian separatists.
"These are not weapons that they took from Ukraine in the Ukrainian military. These are weapons that were provided to them by the Russians. I believe that can be proven, I believe there is evidence that can prove how this attack was conducted and that should be declassified and showed to the world."
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