President Obama on rebels at MH17 crash site: “What exactly are they trying to hide?”

President Barack Obama on Monday called on President Vladimir Putin to stop Russia-backed rebels from tampering with evidence and bodies at the MH17 crash site.

The speech was largely in response to reports over the weekend that separatists seized the MH17 crash site and blocked access to respondents.

Here are the three main takeaways from his speech:

1) Obama’s priority is recovering evidence and bodies. “Our immediate focus is on recovering those who were lost, investigating exactly what happened, and putting forward the facts,” he said. “We have to make sure the truth is out.”

2) Separatists are making that first priority difficult by blocking access to the crash site. Obama asked, “All of which begs the question, what exactly are they trying to hide?”

3) Obama called on Russia and President Vladimir Putin to take control of the situation and stop rebels from blocking access to the MH17 crash site — or risk further isolation from the international community. “Russia has extraordinary influence over these separatists,” he said. “The burden now is on Russia to insist that the separatists stop tampering with the evidence.”

The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports that the rebels allowed Dutch experts into the crash site.

Check out what we know so far about the MH17 crash here.