Open door to Vladimir Putin, Tony Abbott told

AUSTRALIA is under pressure from other members of the G20 to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin is allowed to ­attend the summit.

AUSTRALIA is under pressure from other members of the G20 to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin is allowed to ­attend the world leaders’ summit in November despite the downing of Malaysian airliner MH17.

Several G20 and European nations are concerned that ­further trade sanctions and any refusal to allow Mr Putin to visit Queensland for the economic meeting would be counter-­productive and lead to damaging trade repercussions.

There have been several calls in Australia for the government to refuse to invite Mr Putin to Queensland as retaliation for the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukrainian territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists last month.

As the G20 host, Tony Abbott has consistently refused to make any decision about the Russian leader’s invitation to Brisbane and has said that Russia needs to match its deeds to its words as far as the missile strike is concerned.

In recent weeks several G20 members have expressed concern that Australia might unilaterally decide to exclude Russia from the economic summit.

Russian energy projects and trade with Europe have been substantially affected by the latest sanctions on Russia, ­directly threatening trade and industry in Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria and Italy. Some non-­European G20 members are also concerned about going further with sanctions and moves against Russia at the meeting.

Under the rules of the G20 forum the host country can’t take a unilateral decision to ­refuse a member entry and any such decision has to be a “colleg­iate” decision.

The Prime Minister has indicated any decision on Russia’s attendance will not be made by Australia alone.

Yesterday Mr Abbott said Australia “can’t change the world economy”.

But he said “we can actually lead by example” and the Brisbane G20 meeting would showcase Australia’s economic policies, promote the importance of private-sector-led economic growth, boost free trade and ­reduce regulation.

“If these policies are more generally adopted around the world, I think the economic outlook will change from uncertain to positive,” he said.