(VOVworld) – Russia has accused the Ukrainian government of interfering with the investigation into the cause of the July crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

During talks on Monday with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Beijing, Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected accusations that pro-Russian separatists are hindering the investigation and that the crash site is under their control. Putin said the government is constantly shelling this territory and is not allowing work to freely proceed at the site of the crash. He added that Russia supports a full and unbiased investigation of the MH17 disaster.

Emergencies Ministry members walk at the site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Najib cited a preliminary report that MH17 was brought down by a number of high-energy objects, not by technical faults. He stressed that access to the crash site is a crucial issue.

Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 passengers and crew members. 272 of the victims have been identified so far.