Sanctions threat for Russia over MH17 site

Britain, France and Germany have warned Russia it could face further EU sanctions if it doesn't press pro-Kremlin separatists in Ukraine to allow unfettered access to the crash site of flight MH17.

David Cameron, Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel held separate phone calls to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine days after a Malaysia Airlines jet crashed, killing 298 people on board after what is believed to have been a strike by a surface-to-air missile.

Concerns have been mounting that the separatists are blocking access to key evidence and to the bodies of the passengers, scores of which were moved from the crash site to a train on Sunday.

"They... agreed that the EU must reconsider its approach to Russia and that foreign ministers should be ready to impose further sanctions on Russia when they meet on Tuesday," a Downing Street spokesman said in a statement on Sunday, adding that Cameron was due to speak to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin later.

A French presidency statement after the calls similarly warned that "consequences" would be drawn at Tuesday's meeting "if Russia does not immediately take the necessary measures".

It said the three leaders had agreed to call on Putin to pressure the rebels into allowing rescuers and investigators "free and total access to the site of the MH17 flight disaster to accomplish their mission".

"Russia must understand that resolving the Ukrainian crisis is more than ever an imperative after this tragedy which has outraged the entire world," it added.

Cameron had already raised the prospect of fresh EU sanctions against Russia, warning in the Sunday Times that Moscow should be held accountable if it was confirmed that MH17 was downed by a missile fired from an area held by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

The European Union has so far hit 72 Ukraine and Russian figures with travel bans and asset freezes over the crisis, but divisions over how far to go given some member states' close economic ties with Russia has left Brussels trailing Washington.