Putin Given 48 Hour Ultimatum To Let Investigators Probe Malaysian MH17 Crash Site, As Cameron, Merkel And Hollande Say They Are 'Ready' To Hit Russia With Fresh Crippling .Sanctions!

Russian Strong Man, Putin

Britain, France and Germany this afternoon warned Vladimir Putin to grant international investigators immediate access to the MH17 crash site in Ukraine - or face fresh sanctions on Tuesday.

David Cameron, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande said they were 'prepared' to increase economic attacks on Russia if it did not deliver. The three EU leaders spoke over the phone this morning.

It came after the British Prime Minister attacked European leaders for being too soft on Mr Putin.

He accused the EU showing a lack of 'resolve' in refusing to face up to Russia and suggested the world was now paying the price. Mr Cameron also likened the crisis to Europe's appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s.

Following the ultimatum, Mr Cameron is expecting to talk with Mr Putin this evening.

A Downing Street spokesman said the UK, France and Germany had agreed that they must be 'ready' to hit Russia with further sanctions on Tuesday.

The spokesman said: 'All three leaders agreed that the immediate priority is to secure access to the crash site and to ensure that specialist teams are able to recover the victims and return them home.

'They agreed President Putin has an important role to play by persuading the separatists to grant access and to work with the international community to ensure that all that needs to be done can be done as soon as possible. 'They also 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.'

This morning the British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, revealed that Britain would join forces with Australia in the UN Security Council tomorrow to get a resolution passed to get access to investigators to the crash site.

The Foreign Secretary said Russia had been blocking this up until now.

He added that on Tuesday he will travel to Brussels to get other European leaders 'to agree to go further in terms of sanctions if Russia hasn't radically changed its position by then'.

Mr Hammond said: 'I will be speaking to my German counterpart this afternoon and I will be discussing with him precisely these issues.'

But he said: 'Now the entire international community is ranged against Russia. We have been very forward leaning in the argument around sanctions against Russia - for its illegal annexation of Crimea, for its destabilisation of Ukraine.

'Some of our European allies have been less enthusiastic and I hope that the shock of this incident will see them now more engaged, more willing, to take the actions which are necessary to bring home to the Russians that when you do this kind of thing it has consequences and they are lasting consequences.' A wwwdailymail.co.uk extract.