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Vladimir Putin is underlining his presence at a major summit of world leaders in Australia by stationing warships in waters off the country's northeastern coast, prompting the Australian prime minister to angrily accuse Russia of trying to reclaim the “lost glories” of the Soviet Union.
The diplomatic drama, simmering since a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot over an area of Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists in July, threatened to overshadow Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's goal of keeping this weekend's G-20 summit focused on economic growth.
But Abbott, who had said he would physically confront the Russian president on the Flight 17 disaster that killed 298 people, including 38 Australian citizens and residents, did little to dampen tensions with his latest critique of Putin's Russia.
In recent days, four Russian warships have entered international waters off the northeast Australian coast to coincide with Putin's visit to Australia for the summit that brings together the leaders of the world's 20 biggest industrialised and developing economies. Australia sent three warships of its own to monitor them.
The Russian embassy said on Friday Russia's Pacific fleet was testing its range, and could be used as security for Putin.
Abbott was not impressed.
"Russia is being much more assertive now than it has been for a very long time," he said at a press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, also in Australia for the summit. "Russia's economy is declining even as its assertiveness is increasing." The prime minister, who met with Putin this week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Beijing, aired details of his conversation with the leader.
"One of the points I tried to make to Putin is Russia would be so much more attractive if it was aspiring to be a superpower for peace and freedom and prosperity ... instead of trying to recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union."
Abbott, an athletic 56-year-old former amateur boxer whose government is a staunch US ally, has gained a higher international profile by loudly demanding more cooperation from Russia on the Dutch-led investigation into the downing of Flight 17.
He raised eyebrows last month when he declared he intended to "shirtfront" Putin, using an Australian football term for a head-on shoulder charge to an opponent's chest.
