MH17 The Russian public has reacted to the MH17 tragedy by expressing their disdain for the pro-Russian Ukranian separatists, while seemingly refraining from criticising president Vladimir Putin, who had received international flak over the disaster.

The Observer today reported that in Moscow, the Russians have little or no respect for the separatists, while also retaining a knack for conspiracy theories mostly involving the United States, which the report described as "comforting" and "a drug" for the Russians.

"A curious mixture of conspiracy theory and criticism for the separatists comes up almost every time I strike up a conversation on the fate of flight MH17," journalist Natalia Antanova wrote in her column published online in The Observer 's sister publication The Guardian .

"Separatists mean too much liability - every good tactician will tell you that," the report quotes Konstantin, a "retired military", as saying.

"Even if they didn't bring down the plane, I have no sympathy for these whack jobs," he said further.

A young man called Vitaly accused the separatists of trying to drag Russia to World War 3.

"I don't even know what their goals are. It all seems pointless," he said.

There are also plenty of conspiracy theories, many of them linking back to the US.

"Who benefits from portraying Russia as the monster? The Americans do. They want to go to war with the whole world." a dentist Dmitry is quoted saying.

Reluctance to blame Putin

Above all, even some of Putin's harshest critics refrain from blaming him for the tragedy.

Some say he was "ill-advised" in supporting the rebels in Eastern Ukraine.

"Few people want to directly blame Putin. It makes sense.

"Russia has improved, but it's still a chaotic country. It's important for people to believe in least one person.

"And you can't discount the fact that the Ukrainian leadership isn't 100 percent trustworthy," Yekaterina, a pensioner, was quoted saying.

While the annexation of Crimea was done using well trained Russian troops, the Eastern Ukraine conflict has seen Russia seemingly allowing the rebels, or separatists, to run the show.

The ordinary Russians were however not without sympathy for the victims of the MH17 crash.

"There were many children (on board), I heard," Konstantin said.

"Kids that probably never even heard of Ukraine, or the war, or anything like that. The innocents always suffer," he added.