Australia's new Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott made outspoken remarks about his intentions as it was revealed Russian President Vladimir Putin would be taking part in the G20 summit next month, which will be hosted by Australia in Brisbane.
Treasurer Joe Hockey confirmed on Sunday that the Russian leader would attend, despite concerns about Russia’s actions in Ukraine in recent months.
Abbott has used tough language against Russia since a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July, killing all 298 onboard, including 38 Australian citizens or residents.
He said on Monday he would be confronting Putin over the tragedy.
“I’m going to shirtfront Mr Putin – you bet I am,” Abbott told reporters, referring to an Australian sporting term in which a player charges someone.
“I’m going to be saying to Mr Putin – Australians were murdered and they were murdered by Russian-backed rebels using Russian-supplied equipment. We are very unhappy about this.”
“We accept that you didn’t want this to happen,” he added.
“But we now demand that you fully cooperate with the criminal investigation, and if the criminal investigation identifies suspects that you have some influence over, they’ve got to be produced and justice has got to be done.”
Russian denial
Kiev and the West have accused Moscow-backed separatists of shooting down the plane with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Russia. Moscow denies the charge and has pointed the finger back at Kiev.
Australia had initially been reluctant for Putin to attend the G20, but member nations indicated that he should in order to address the geo-political tensions.
“While Australia is the president of the G20 this year, we can’t make unilateral decisions. It has to be by consensus and the G20 consensus is that Russia should come,” said Abbott.
“Now, I think that there’ll be a lot of tough conversations with Russia and I suspect that the conversation that I have with Mr Putin will be the toughest conversation of all.”
“But nevertheless, it’s not up to us to determine who is and who is not a member of the G20. I want the G20 to continue. I want Australia to be a constructive and strong member of the G20. I don’t want to be a G20 wrecker.”
The G20 leaders’ summit takes place from November 15-16. – AFP