David Cameron urges France to axe Vladimir Putin arms deal.

David Cameron: Pressure mounting on Putin over MH17

Ahead of emergency talks in Brussels today, he insisted the EU should also freeze the assets of the Russian president’s allies, whom he referred to as cronies and oligarchs.

Mr Cameron told MPs it had been shown beyond doubt that Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by an SA11 missile fired by separatists trained and armed by Moscow in a conflict ‘fomented’ by Russia.

Evoking the spectre of Nazi aggression in the 1930s and 40s, he added: ‘Those of us in Europe should not need to be reminded of the consequences of turning a blind eye when big countries bully smaller countries.

'We will lose diplomatic and economic security if we do not confront the fact that one country in Europe is now being destabilised by Russia, and if we let this happen, others will follow.'

Earlier this year, Prince Charles prompted controversy by likening Mr Putin to Adolf Hitler.

Mr Cameron questioned France’s plan to sell Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, suggesting it was ‘unthinkable’ after the downing of the Malaysian jet.

From France with love: This is part of the Sevastopol ship under construction in Saint-Nazaire, western France, for the Russian navy. It was pictued arriving from the Baltic on July 15

Close: Putin and billionaire Arkady Rotenberg who has been been blacklisted by US sanctions

Asked about France’s plan to press ahead with a £1billion contract, the Prime Minister said: ‘Frankly in this country it would be unthinkable to fulfil an order like the one outstanding that the French have.

‘We cannot go on doing business as usual with a country when it is behaving in this way.

'Russia cannot expect to continue enjoying access to European markets, European capital, European knowledge and technical expertise while she fuels conflict in one of Europe’s neighbours.’

His remarks will embarrass France’s socialist president Francois Hollande, who has refused to intervene to cancel the delivery of the vessels to Moscow, despite pressure to do so from the US even before the downing of MH17.

Former Cabinet minister Kenneth Clarke said: ‘If this outrageous [Russian] behaviour is not met with truly effective sanctions, the West faces very grave problems in the next few years from Russian behaviour across the rest of central and eastern Europe, including the Balkan states and the Baltic states inside the [European] Union itself.’

Conservative MP Colonel Bob Stewart, ex-commander of UN forces in Bosnia, said Nato should now position troops in the Balkan republics and Poland.

Anne Marie Morris, another Tory MP, suggested Russia should be stripped of the right to hold the 2018 World Cup.

Grim cargo: Ukrainian rescue workers remove bagged bodies of the 298 MH17 victims from the village of Grabovo in eastern Ukraine where the plane came down. The area is controlled by pro-Russian separatists

Safety: Emergency workers put on protective gear to handle the victims, many of whom were badly burned

Ed Miliband, in Washington for a brief meeting with US president Barack Obama, said Europe faced a moment of reckoning.

‘We know enough about this disaster to know that this is a moment when Europe needs to show its strength as well as its sorrow,’ he added.

‘EU foreign ministers meeting this week must take the first decisive steps to tighten and extend sanctions, not just against specific individuals, but against Russian commercial organisations, unless and until President Putin ceases all support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine and halts the supply of arms across the Russian border.’

Despite Mr Cameron’s rhetoric, diplomatic sources played down the prospect of a major escalation of sanctions at today’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Separatist leader hands over black boxes to Malaysia officials

It was not immediately known what the Malaysian team would do with the black boxes, but there was speculation they would pass the boxes on to experts with experience of reading the data

A Malaysian investigator, left, takes a black box as it is handed over by a Donetsk People's Republic official in the city of Donetsk

Other member states are said to be nervous about the economic impact of cutting Russia off.

Stefan Hedlund, an expert on Russia based at Uppsala University in Sweden, said a full-scale economic confrontation between the West and Russia could be devastating.

‘The Russian economy would be thrown into severe recession, the Ukrainian economy would collapse, and all hopes for a recovery in the eurozone would be put off for several years,’ he said.

Last night the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for a full and independent investigation into the MH17 disaster.

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