Hillary Clinton says plane “probably had to be” shot down by pro-Russian rebels

In an interview with Charlie Rose that’s airing Thursday night, Hillary Clinton says that the MH17 attack can “probably” be blamed on pro-Russian rebels.

While she cautions that investigation into the attack is still ongoing and we still don’t know who’s behind it, Clinton believes the clues point towards pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

“Who had the equipment? It’s obviously an anti-aircraft missile,” she said. “The Ukrainian government has been quick to blame it on terrorists, which is their name for the Russian insurgents, and there does seem to be some growing awareness that it probably had to be Russian insurgents.”

If these separatists did have anti-aircraft missiles, she goes on, the weapons were probably supplied by Russia.

Clinton also mentioned that “if there is evidence linking Russia to this” — something we don’t yet have — then that should “inspire” Europe to tighten sanctions on Russia and reduce its dependency on Gazprom, the large Russian natural-gas supplier.

Here’s the full segment: