At no point did we deny that USS VINCENNES launched the missile ... we expressed ‘regret’ for the loss of life ... we forked over the bucks.
Even wikipedia agrees with that.
The Russians/Soviets, OTOH ...
The Russians were just a few decades ahead of the Obama administration, politically speaking. This President will never apologize for anything either
Not to mention, the U.S. was savaged in the press over it. Whereas now, it appears that the implication is that what the Russian separatists did was ok because the U.S. did it.