Pussy Riot sentence too harsh: PM

7 Sep 2012, 10:53 pm   -   Source: AAP

Julia Gillard has touched down in Vladivostok for the annual APEC leaders summit and has immediately weighed into the debate about punk band Pussy Riot.

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Australia has told Russia it disagrees with the harsh sentence meted out to feminist punk band Pussy Riot, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has revealed.

Ms Gillard weighed into the ongoing controversy surrounding the band just an hour after arriving in the far eastern Russian port city of Vladivostok for this year's APEC leaders summit.

"We have indicated our view that the sentence for these young women we believe is disproportionate," Ms Gillard told reporters.

"That was conveyed through our embassy at the time that the sentence was first announced."

Three members of Pussy Riot were last month sentenced to two years in prison for a February performance in a Moscow cathedral in which they denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The sentences have outraged world famous musicians from Madonna to Bjork and the episode is being used to support arguments that Mr Putin is increasingly restricting freedom of speech.

Ms Gillard is likely to meet Mr Putin on the summit's sidelines this weekend but she has declined to say whether she will raise the Pussy Riot sentences with him.

Ms Gillard will use the summit to push for an accord to further open the region's higher education market.

She will also seek to shore up support for an agreement that would see APEC's 21 nations slash tariffs on environmental goods to no more than five per cent by the year 2015. Ms Gillard says she's "optimistic" the leaders will make progress on this agreement.

She is set to meet a handful of leaders for bilateral talks on the summit's sidelines, including Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Ms Gillard has confirmed she will discuss the controversial Malaysian people swap deal with Mr Najib. Labor has put the policy on hold while it seeks to improve its human rights protections.

She will also meet the leaders of New Zealand, Vietnam, Peru and Papua New Guinea.

She says the government is "working hard" to conclude its agreement with PNG that will allow it to start sending asylum seekers to the country's Manus Island as part of its new offshore processing regime.

APEC's relevance and utility is often questioned and some believe the forum should be scrapped. But Ms Gillard disagrees.

"I certainly don't think it will disappear. I think APEC's got a strong future," she said.

Ms Gillard will return to Australia on Monday.

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