Tony Abbott has met Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the APEC summit in China.
Officials have confirmed the pair had a short meeting at the summit venue on Tuesday.
The meeting at the picturesque Yanqi Lake just outside Beijing follows on from a brief exchange on Monday night, in which Mr Abbott raised the MH17 attack and the need to ensure investigators can access the crash site.
It's not known what Mr Putin - recently named as Forbes magazine's most powerful man in the world - said in response.
Thirty-eight Australians were among the 298 people killed when Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists shot the passenger plane out of the sky on July 17.
Mr Abbott originally promised to "shirtfront" the Russian president over Moscow's involvement, but subsequently toned down his language.
He later pledged the pair would have a "robust" conversation.
Earlier on Tuesday, the prime minister earlier attended a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Australian embassy with New Zealand leader John Key.
He later addressed the summit, using his speech to talk up his G20 agenda.
He is set for one-on-one meetings with the leaders of Mexico and South Korea later on Tuesday.
The prime minister leaves Beijing on Wednesday bound for regional security talks in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
He returns to Australia on Friday.
