MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott hopes that Russian President Vladimir Putin will accept his invitation to talk about the Ukraine crisis on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders' summit in November, Australian Ambassador to Russia Paul Myler told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
"Our prime minister hopes for a serious talk with President Putin… This meeting has certainly been planned. We'll see if Putin agrees to a meeting like that, but we'll seek it," Myler said.
Australia has been vocally anti-Russian in its approach toward the deadly standoff between pro-Kiev armed forces and militias in eastern Ukraine, especially in the light of the MH17 crash in July, which killed 38 Australians.
Speaking on the catastrophe on Tuesday, the Australian prime minister claimed that the "plane was brought down by Russian-backed rebels using Russian-supplied equipment," an accusation that sparked an angry response from Moscow.
Most recently, a number of Western nations have called to bar Russia from participating in the summit in the Australian city of Brisbane, despite Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov saying in June that there was no legal basis for excluding his country from the group.
On Tuesday, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey promised that the Russian president would attend the summit in Brisbane, adding that other G20 nations had agreed that Russia's presence was important in solving the Ukraine crisis.
Ambassador Myler confirmed that the Ukrainian issue would be heavily debated at the meeting in Australia.
"Our goal is to bring the situation where we had good relations between Russia and the rest of the world. It was so in 2013. The G20 summit was hosted by Russia in 2013 in the atmosphere of enthusiasm and optimism about Russia and Australian companies swarming the Russian market. It's all in the past," the Australian diplomat said.
The forthcoming summit is scheduled to take place in Brisbane on November 15 and 16.
