Second Secretary at the Russian Embassy in Canberra, Alexander Odoevskiy, told SBS that the Kremlin was choosing to ignore Mr Abbott’s declaration that he wanted to “shirt-front” Mr Putin at the G20 about the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine.
Although a spokesman for the President called the comments “unfortunate”, Mr Odoevskiy said the embassy noted Mr Abbott’s “changed tone”, in now calling for a “robust conversation”.
“No doubt, in contrast with his previous words, the ‘robust conversation’ sounds much more diplomatic for us and we are totally OK with it – so I think it is good grounds to start this conversation,” he said.
“The previous issue, the ‘shirt-front’ issue, we feel is gone and should be forgotten and we should move on to the robust conversation.”
But Russian media are less conciliatory. The Soviet-era newspaper Pravda, now published online, carried a firey salvo from columnist Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, for a second day.
The columnist is accusing Mr Abbott of childishness, incompetence, “a disturbed” mind and making “slanderous insinuations” with his accusation that Russia is ultimately responsible for what happened to MH17.
And the state-owned Russia Today TV network lampooned Mr Abbott on its ‘In the Now’ segment, suggesting he was no match for its judo-practising president.
Tony Abbott was unrepentant as to who he believes is responsible for shooting down MH17.
“I will be having a very robust conversation with him (Mr Putin) about the 38 innocent Australians who were murdered by Russian-backed rebels using Russian-supplied equipment,” he said today.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten had some sympathy for the Prime Minister’s position.
“Tony Abbott and the Government need to make clear in the most unambiguous terms – without perhaps threatening physical altercation – that Australia does not like having its face rubbed in it,” he said.
Mr Abbott has also confirmed he has cancelled an $8 million government contract issued last year to re-fit some Brisbane hotels to enlarge their presidential suites to fit the specifications of visiting leaders.
He said Brisbane hotels are “splendid”.
“We think that the hotels of Brisbane are more than good enough to accommodate people and we thought that it was unnecessary to spend more to further improve them.”
Mr Abbott said he believed Vladimir Putin would be staying in “a fine hotel”.
“I’m sure that will be a comfort to him after the robust conversations that he will have,” he said.
Bill Shorten said he would not be seeking to meet Mr Putin – shirtfront or otherwise.
“I’m not about to challenge him to a chess game or something like that,” he said.
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