Board Thread:Support Requests - Designing Your Wikia/@comment-25683352-20141114122627

Mr Abbott met the Russian president in a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit on Tuesday.

It was widely reported that his threat to "shirtfront" Mr Putin - over Russia's disputed role in the attack on flight MH17 - did

not eventuate at the meeting.

However, Mr Abbott has today made public some of the leaders' conversation.

"One of the points I tried to make to Putin is that Russia would be so much more attractive if it was aspiring to be a superpower

for peace and freedom and prosperity, if it was trying to be a superpower for ideas and for values, instead of trying to recreate

the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union," he said.

In a joint press conference with British prime minister David Cameron, Mr Abbott said Russia's actions in relation to Ukraine

were part of a "regrettable pattern".

"Whether it's the bullying of Ukraine, whether it's the increasing Russian military aircraft flying into the air space of Japan,

European countries, whether it's the naval task group which is now in the South Pacific, Russia is being much more assertive now

than it has been for a very long time," he said.

"Interestingly, Russia's economy is declining even as Russia's assertiveness is increasing."

Greens leader Christine Milne said Mr Abbott was mishandling the diplomacy.

"Tony Abbott tries to play the international stage for crass domestic political purposes," she said.

"He went into complete overreach with the Russians with his statement of shirtfronting Vladimir Putin.

"And then of course, was as quiet as a lamb when they met on the sidelines of another global meeting."

Mr Putin will arrive in Australia late tonight to attend this weekend's G20 Leaders' Summit in Brisbane.

The Defence Department has been monitoring four Russian naval ships travelling this week through international waters near Papua

New Guinea.

Mr Cameron said Russia's action in Ukraine was "unacceptable" and would lead to a deterioration in its relationships with western

nations and possible harsher sanctions. 