Prime Minister Tony Abbott has set the scene for a tense G20 summit after accusing Vladimir Putin of focusing on military aggression and letting Russia's economy decline.
Mr Abbott jetted in to Brisbane on Friday to meet G20 leaders and business chiefs before chairing the global gathering which officially starts on Saturday.
The prime minister wants the focus of the summit to remain firmly on boosting global economic growth and jobs.
But other issues, such as Russia's support for Ukrainian separatists, the fight against the spread of Ebola in west Africa and calls for greater efforts to tackle climate change will also be key discussion topics.
Mr Abbott, who had previously promised to "shirtfront" Mr Putin over the shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine, said Russia would find more friends if it promoted peace and freedom instead of trying to recreate its past.
"Interestingly, Russia's economy is declining even as Russia's assertiveness is increasing," he said, during a press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron in Canberra.
"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."
Mr Putin is already aware of the prime minister's thoughts, which were voiced during a brief meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Beijing earlier this week.
Mr Abbott will hold a trilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the G20 summit to discuss greater defence cooperation.
They will also discuss Russia's military flights into Japanese airspace and its decision to send a navy fleet of four warships to the South Pacific.
Mr Abbott describes Russia's naval posturing in international waters northeast of Australia as part of a regrettable pattern of bullying and aggression.
Mr Cameron raised the prospect of increased sanctions against Russia if matters in Ukraine worsened.
Kiev is readying for fresh combat operations in its war-torn east and NATO has backed claims Moscow is pouring military hardware across the border.
Ukraine will also be on Mr Obama's agenda at the summit, alongside climate change and economic reform.
Australia has set its G20 co-members the task of coming up with individual plans to deliver a collective two per cent rise in global economic growth beyond current levels to 2018.
Mr Cameron praised Australia for showing "great leadership in pushing these growth boosting measures".
Mr Cameron's also keen on greater G20 cooperation on big companies who don't "pay the tax bills they should".
But he's less enthusiastic about climate change, saying every country has its own views.
A spokesman for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who this week struck an historic emissions reduction deal with Mr Obama, said the delegation expected positive results to come out of the summit.
Mr Putin was due to arrive in Brisbane on Friday night.
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