Abbott to raise MH17 with Putin in ‘short’ meeting at APEC

TONY Abbott has vowed to have a robust conversation with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an APEC summit in Beijing next week.

Tony Abbott, left, in a news conference in Melbourne this morning, where he appeared for the election campaign of Victorian Premier Denis Napthine. Picture: Eugene Hyland

TONY Abbott has vowed to have a robust conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an APEC summit in Beijing next week, after the Kremlin confirmed last night that they would meet.

The Prime Minister, who famously promised to “shirt-front” Mr Putin over the MH17 crash, said he would seek Mr Putin’s personal assurance that the airline disaster was not swept under the carpet or forgotten.

“I will speak for our dead, I will speak for our nation, I will speak for decency and for humanity in stating to the Russian President he owes it to us, he owes it to our common humanity to ensure that justice is done,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

Mr Abbott had said earlier this week that he would meet Mr Putin one way or the other, either in Beijing or in Brisbane for next weekend’s G20 leaders meeting.

But last night Mr Putin’s top foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, told reporters: “Australians turned (to us) with an official request for a meeting during an APEC summit and we are agreeing to such a meeting in China.

“It will be short.”

Australia has long sought a face-to-face meeting with Mr Putin, the first since Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down over east Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard, including 38 Australian citizens and residents.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop hosed down concerns Mr Abbott’s previous choice of language would derail discussions.

“Since the phrase shirtfront was used, I understand it has now entered the diplomatic lexicon of many countries,” she said today.

Mr Abbott is also expected to meet US President Barack Obama during the leaders forum on Monday, where regional heads aim to clinch a pan-Pacific trade deal.

Meanwhile, the barricades are about to go up as Brisbane braces for the arrival of world leaders for the G20 and the biggest lockdown the country has seen.

The venue of the G20 summit, the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, will be sealed off with a 2m-high non-climb fence, as will the hotels where the leaders and their delegations are staying.

After the rioting that marred the 2010 G20 in Toronto and the London meeting in 2009, Assistant Commissioner Katarina Carroll of the Queensland Police Service has warned of an “extraordinarily tight security overlay’’ for the prime ministers and presidents who are due to arrive next Thursday.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has appealed for people not to boycott the CBD and make it a “ghost town’’, but the scale and intensity of the security will surpass that of previous big events, including the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Ms Carroll, who is co-ordinating the operation, warned that photographs of known troublemakers could be circulated to the 6000 state police who have been mobilised, along with a 600-strong Australian Federal Police contingent and 1000 soldiers.

Two people have already been banned from the summit precinct under special laws for the G20, including Peter Hore, who lives in Newcastle, NSW, and has a history of disrupting public events; and a person from Queensland.

Reporting: Jamie Walker, AAP, AFP