Calls to expel Russian President Vladimir Putin's daughter from the Netherlands over flight MH17 have fallen flat, with many noting that their Argentine-born queen has not been punished for her father's junta past.

Despite calls from Ukrainian activists and right-wing Dutch newspapers for Maria Putin, 29, to be punished for her father's alleged role in bringing down flight MH17, most here noted that you cannot blame a child for the sins of his or her father.

Russia on Tuesday toughened the penalties for unsanctioned political protests, introducing criminal penalties of up to five years in jail for multiple violations.

President Vladimir Putin signed into law changes which place unsanctioned protests and rallies alongside instigating mass unrest in the criminal code.

The British government on Tuesday announced a public inquiry to investigate who was behind the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy poisoned with radioactive tea in London in 2006.

The move comes as London presses for greater sanctions against Moscow over the downing of a passenger plane in eastern Ukraine and is likely to anger the Kremlin and further chill relations between Britain and Russia.

Evidence has been tampered with on an "industrial scale" at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Tuesday, calling it "a cover-up".

Abbott, whose government was behind a U.N. Security Council resolution that Monday unanimously demanded full access to the site in rebel-held east Ukraine, admitted progress had been made but said more needed to be done.

U.S. President Barack Obama voiced outrage Monday that the probe into the downing of a Malaysian airliner was being hampered by Ukrainian rebels and demanded Russian leader Vladimir Putin force them to cooperate.

"The Russian-backed separatists continue to block the investigation. They've repeatedly prevented international investigators from gaining full access to the wreckage. As investigators approached they fired weapons into the air... All of which begs the question what exactly are they trying to hide?" Obama asked angrily in a statement on the White House south lawn.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday it was essential for international investigators to be granted safe access to the crash site of flight MH17 in Ukraine.

In a video address released by the Kremlin in the early hours of Monday, Putin vowed that Russia will do all it can to bring about a settlement of the Ukraine conflict following the downing of the Malaysian passenger plane last week.

President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Thursday about tough new sanctions imposed on Moscow on Ukraine.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest did not divulge other topics of the conversation. The Kremlin however said that the two leaders discussed the reported crash of a Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that Washington's new biting sanctions against his country will boomerang and hit back at U.S. national interests.

"Without any doubt in this case (sanctions) are driving Russian-U.S. relations towards a dead-end, (and) are inflicting very serious damage on them," the state news agency ITAR TASS quoted Putin as saying while on a visit to Brasilia.

Russia has provisionally agreed to reopen a major Cold War listening post on Cuba that was used to spy on the United States, a Russian daily reported Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin visited the island last week.

Kommersant reported that Russia and Cuba had agreed "in principle" to reopen the Lourdes base, mothballed since 2001, citing several sources within Russian authorities.

The Kremlin denied on Monday a report that Moscow was considering targeted strikes against Ukraine after shells landed across the border and killed a Russian civilian.

Respected daily Kommersant had quoted a source close to the Kremlin as saying Moscow was considering "targeted retaliatory strikes" against Ukraine, where clashes between pro-Moscow rebels and government troops escalated over the weekend.