World opinion is hardening against the idea of President Putin attending the G20 summit in Brisbane in November, Andrew Robb, the Australian trade minister, said yesterday.
He said that Julie Bishop, the country’s foreign minister, would use the Nato summit in Wales this week to canvass the views of a number of world leaders on the subject, he added.
Tony Abbott, the prime minister, yesterday described Russia’s involvement in Ukraine as “reprehensible”. He said: “Russia has been playing its nasty games in the Ukraine for months now. In the last few days they’re come out into the open. They are now openly violating the sovereignty of the Ukraine. It is an invasion, let’s call it for what it is.”
In July 38 Australians died in the MH17 crash after the passenger aircraft was shot down over Ukraine by a Russian-supplied anti-aircraft system.
Seven Nato nations will have direct representation at the G20 summit: the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Turkey.
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Australia is not a member of Nato, but will attend the summit in Wales this week as one of the organisation’s 27 partner countries, and as a contributor to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
Mr Abbott said on Monday that Australia would increase its sanctions against Russia to the level imposed by the European Union — including the denial of access to Australian capital markets by Russia’s state-owned banks — and would block all energy exports from Australia to Russia.