Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Beijing
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Beijing, November 11, 2014. REUTERS/Press service of the p

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to apologise over the MH17 crash. Additionally, he also told Putin that Australia had come to know that Russia was involved in shooting down the Malaysian Airline flight which had 38 Australian passengers.

Abbott had a bilateral meeting with the Russian president for 15 minutes on Nov.11. He told Putin that Australia had information that suggested a link between Russia and the MH17 tragedy. He told Putin that the missile that destroyed the MH17 had come from a Russian launcher. The launcher was reportedly used in eastern Ukraine and then sent back to Russia. Abbott said that it would be "a very serious matter" if the information was true, The Australian reported.

Abbott gave reference to an incident when the United States had unintentionally shot an aircraft down. U.S. authorities apologised for the action and offered financial compensation. Abbott commended the precedent to the Russian president whom he had earlier promised to "shirtfront." The United States reportedly paid $61.8 million as compensation after Iranian Airlines Flight 655 had been shot down by a U.S. Navy missile by mistake in 1988. The incident killed 290 people on board. The MH17 tragedy was a similar incident as the Malaysian Airlines flight had been shot down allegedly by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. It killed 298 people on board that included 38 Australians.

The high-voltage bilateral meeting between the two national leaders was originally scheduled to be held during the G20 summit in Brisbane. Kremlin earlier said that the Russian president might not be willing to have a bilateral meeting with the Australian prime minister after the "shirtfront" remark. However, Abbott considered asking for a meeting with Putin on the side-lines of APEC. Russia accepted the proposal of holding a bilateral meeting with Abbott. Both Australia and Russia apparently agreed to abide by the UN Security Council resolution 2166 and promised complete co-operation with the independent investigation, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

According to Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Abbott did not keep his promise to "shirtfront" his Russian counterpart. "It appears that he did not try," Peskov said.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au