BRISBANE // Russian president Vladimir Putin weathered a barrage of criticism from world leaders at a summit in Australia, repeatedly facing them down with the same line – Russian troops are not operating in Ukraine.
Leaving the G20 summit in Brisbane early to get some sleep on the flight home before Monday meetings, Mr Putin was unrepentant in his mantra that it is the leadership in Ukraine’s capital Kiev that needs talking to.
Before he left, Mr Putin said he was pleased with the summit’s atmosphere and felt G20 leaders better understood each other.
After Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper told Mr Putin “I guess I’ll shake your hand but I have only one thing to say to you: you need to get out of Ukraine,” Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation had been “within the bounds of decency”.
While European leaders berated Mr Putin for the crisis in Ukraine, they also held a series of bilateral meetings with him to seek a way forward and avoid further sanctions. The meetings reflect the dilemma facing heads of state in dealing with Mr Putin; even as he was seated at the far end of the room in talks on the opening day and ate lunch at a table away from the likes of US president Barack Obama, leaders could not afford to shun him completely.
“Russia is geopolitically important – not just with regard to Europe and the West, but to Eurasia and the Pacific,” said Rosita Dellios, an associate professor of international relations at Bond University on Australia’s Gold Coast. “The G20 in terms of international relations failed to be inclusive. It not only marginalised, and helped to further demonise Vladimir Putin, but sharpened a new East-West divide.”
Mr Obama, European leaders including UK prime minister David Cameron and G20 host Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, all assailed Mr Putin during the weekend meetings.
Despite accusing having earlier accused Mr Putin of “trying to recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union”, Mr Abbot said yesterday, “When all is said and done President Putin was a guest in our country... I was happy to treat him with respect and courtesy while he was here in Australia.”
Mr Abbott has accused Russia of supplying the weapons used to shoot down Malaysian Airline flight 17 over Ukraine in July, leading to the deaths of all 298 people on board including 38 Australians.
Russian officials reject the assertion that, having annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March, they are supplying men and materials to rebels in eastern Ukraine.
“It is not our preference to see Russia isolated the way it is,” Mr Obama said on Saturday. “We would prefer a Russia that is fully integrated with the global economy.”
Discussions with Mr Putin had been “typical” of prior interactions, Mr Obama said, “which are businesslike and blunt”.
Ukraine is threatened with a return to open warfare, as seen before the September 5 truce that has being consistently violated. More than 4,000 people have died in the fighting, according to United Nations estimates. It is the worst standoff between Russia and its former Cold War foes since the Iron Curtain fell 25 years ago.
In Brisbane, Mr Putin spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for almost four hours in a meeting that included European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. The Russian leader gave a “detailed” explanation of his country’s position on Ukraine, his spokesman Mr Peskov said. Earlier, Ms Merkel had said the situation in Ukraine “is not satisfactory”.
European foreign ministers meeting on Sunday in Brussels will discuss expanding the list of individuals targeted as part of sanctions on Russia, Ms Merkel said.
“What’s been lost in all the brouhaha about the G20 pressuring Putin is that it’s just the Anglosphere making a fuss and calling him names,” said Kirill Nourzhanov, a specialist in Russian and Eurasian politics at the Australian National University. The reception Mr Putin received at the meeting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was different, he said.
“The Brics meeting gave Russia the thumbs up, not on Ukraine, but over economics it was business as usual and Russia was accepted,” Mr Nourzhanov said. “If the aim of western leaders in the G20 was Russia’s economic isolation then it failed. Putin is not going to change his behaviour one iota.”
Mr Cameron and Mr Putin had a robust exchange during one-on-one talks that lasted 50 minutes, a UK official said.
“A very clear message has been delivered by the countries of the European Union and America to Russia about how we’re going to approach this in the months and years to come,” Mr Cameron said. Mr Putin needed to know there is a “real unity of purpose” between the US and Europe over Ukraine, Mr Cameron said.
* Bloomberg
