Abbott Says Vladimir Putin’s G20 Attendance may be in Doubt Following MH17

Yesterday, Queensland premier Campbell Newman said that he was not prepared to comment on whether Putin would still be attending the G20 Summit later this year in Brisbane. Today, however, Prime Minister Tony Abbott shed some further light on this.

Abbott said that Putin’s attendance at the summit will be contingent on how much co-operation Australia received from Russia when the independent investigation into the MH17 crash commences.

Following the crash, in which 28 Australians were killed, Abbott demanded that Russia not stand in the way of any official investigations, and later spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama about the need for immediate international access to the crash site, which is being “trampled”.

Russia, so far, have not been particularly forthcoming. They have not, as yet, acknowledged reports that pro-Russian separatists were behind the attack, and have accused Abbott of “operating only on speculation” and disregarding evidence.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is pretty pissed that nobody in Russia will speak to her or return her calls regarding just what the hell is going on, and is about to fly to New York to speak to the U.N. Security Council about an independent investigation into the attack.

Bishop is fuming at Russia’s official silence. After finding out that the country’s Foreign Affairs minister Sergie Lavrov was “on holidays”, she told Lateline that she has since been unsuccessful at every turn. 

“I then asked to speak to a deputy or a vice minister but I’ve now been told that I won’t be able to speak to anybody in the ministry of foreign affairs in Moscow,” she said, adding that, “if Russia believes Ukraine was responsible, then Russia would surely support an investigation.”

Around the country, tributes continue to flow in for the victims of the crash, including a grandfather and three young children from Perth, Sydney nun Sister Philomene Tiernan, Melbourne University student Elaine Teoh and novelist Liam Davidson.

Photo: Mark Nolan via Getty Images