With four Russian naval vessels anchored just outside Australia’s territorial waters, President Vladimir Putin braved the annual meeting of the G20 in Brisbane. The Russia flotilla hearkens to the dark days of the Cold War, when East was pitted against West.
Now, there’s no actual Cold War, just a chilly relationship between Putin and the rest of the leaders at the annual summit. But it is frost that has hardened because of the Kremlin’s support and backing for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine in addition to Putin’s out-manoeuvring of both Kiev and the West in orchestrating the annexation of Crimea in March.
Small wonder then that he received a sub-zero reception from the other members of the G20 club. If anything, following his support for the illegal and blatantly twisted plebiscite by the separatists that declared autonomy in Donetsk and Luhansk, Putin faces at least censure and certainly the prospect of more sanctions being imposed on the Russian economy.
With oil sliding to four-year lows and sanctions already biting, Putin is in no mood for compromise and his financial apparatchiks have already stockpiled gold reserves to stave off long-term effects of the sanctions by reinforcing the rouble.
Tony Abbott, Australia’s Prime Minister, is in little mood for anything that might placate the Russians — he has made it clear that he believes Russia is squarely to blame for the downing of MH17 in July, and Putin is intent on reliving “the lost glories of tsardom”. Against this backdrop, the G20 summit will likely be acrimonious and decidedly anti-Russian in tone. What is important in Brisbane are the series of bilateral meetings that Putin is scheduled to hold with President Francois Hollande of France and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Relations between Paris and Moscow are tense following a reluctant decision by Hollande to halt the delivery of an aircraft carrier. Putin is adamant the vessel must be supplied. In private, Hollande likely agrees, but can’t be seen to be acting against the sanctions brokered by Washington and broadly supported by the European Union. This G20 summit is not your typical run-of-the-mill conference of canapés and communiqués.
