World News Abbott calls for Putin apology on MH17 anniversary Blog

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Russian President Vladimir Putin owes compensation and an apology to the families of the MH17 victims, says former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Wednesday marks the tenth anniversary of the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by a Russian missile. All 298 people on board, including 38 Australians, died.

Abbott, the then prime minister who famously threatened to trap the Russian president after the attack, said Putin must now take responsibility.

“Russian missile batteries do not move to neighboring countries by chance. This only happens when it is authorized from the very top,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“Russian President Putin owes an apology and compensation to the families of the dead, because this plane was clearly shot down to pursue Russia’s geopolitical goals in Ukraine.

“Yes, it was a tragedy, but it was worse. It was an atrocity.”

Looking back on the anniversary, Abbott recalled the heated exchanges when he first met Putin after the plane was shot down at the 2001 APEC summit in Beijing.

“(Putin) said that ‘Ukrainians are all fascists and that Ukrainians themselves brought down the plane as a kind of provocation.’ Then he said that ‘Ukraine has no right to exist,'” he said.

“I said to him, ‘I understand the Mother Russia thing… but if Ukrainians want to look West rather than East, then that is certainly their right.’

“As we were walking back to the conference, he suddenly turned around, grabbed me by the elbow and tried to shake me and then push me away, saying in English: ‘Look, you are not a native Australian, but I am a native Russian.’

“So it was pretty clear to me what he meant even then. I just think it’s a shame that more wasn’t done to help the Ukrainians.”

After Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Abbott said history had confirmed his desire to take action against Russia.

“Honestly, I should have done more than confront him, because that would probably have been the only way to stop him. I should have been much more forceful than anyone did at the time,” he said.

“Obviously we have seen time and again that Putin exploits weakness.”

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