The prime minister and Mr Putin are both heading to Beijing for the APEC leaders summit.
The duo will have a formal meeting on Tuesday to discuss the MH17 plane disaster and fallout.
Russian backed separatists shot down the plane over east Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard, including 38 Australians.
Mr Abbott has flagged a "robust conversation" and wants Mr Putin to guarantee he's doing everything possible to help investigations.
He hit world headlines after threatening to "shirtfront" the Russian president but has since toned down his language.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the shirtfront comment went too far.
"In some ways that weakened our legitimate outrage," he told ABC TV on Sunday.
He hopes Mr Abbott uses the meeting as an opportunity to get to the bottom of what happened.
"Putin's not going to tell us the truth," he said.
"But Tony Abbott has to at least ask."
Australia should be lobbying for peace in Ukraine, as a silver lining to the "senseless barbarity", Mr Shorten said.
Recovery and investigative work at the crash site has been halted because of fighting between the government and pro-Russian separatists, despite a September ceasefire.
The APEC summit marks the beginning of a whirlwind week of diplomacy for Mr Abbott, who will also visit Myanmar for Asian security talks before returning to Australia to host the G20 in Brisbane.
