(VOVworld) – International independent investigators must be prioritized to access the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet MH17 for a full investigation.

PM Mark Rutte and President Barack Obama at the White House on Nov. 29, 2011 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souz)

In a phone call on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte agreed on the issue, especially after the bodies of the victims were returned to their home countries.

According to a White House’s statement, Obama spoke highly of the actions taken by the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council which strongly condemned the actions leading to the tragedy and prepared additional sanctions against Russia. Obama and Rutte agreed that the Russian government must face greater consequences if it continues to support separatists in Eastern Ukraine.

The statement was made regardless of US media quoting high-ranking US intelligence officials as saying that Russia had nothing to with the MH17 plane crash which killed 298 people.