section_path: Foreign policy/Australia and the South Pacific
section_name: Australia and the South Pacific
paragraph_text: Australia and the South Pacific
  
  In September 2007, Putin visited Indonesia, the first Russian leader to do so in over 50 years. In the same month, Putin also attended the APEC meeting held in Sydney, Australia, where he met with Prime Minister John Howard and signed a uranium trade deal for Australia to sell uranium to Russia. This was the first visit by a Russian president to Australia. Putin again visited Australia for 2014 G20 Brisbane summit. The Abbott government denounced Putin's use of military force in Ukraine in 2014 as "bullying" and "utterly unacceptable".
  
  Amid calls to ban Putin from attending the 2014 G20 Summit, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he would "shirtfront" (challenge) the Russian leader over the shooting down of MH17 by Russian-backed rebels, which had killed 38 Australians. Putin denied responsibility for the killings.
  
  Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said the invasion was "unprovoked, unjust and illegal" and labeled Putin a "thug". New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern denounced Putin as a "bully". Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama tweeted, "Fiji and our fellow Pacific Island Countries have united as nations of peace-loving people to condemn the conflict in Ukraine", while the Solomon Islands UN ambassador called the invasion a "violation of the rule of law".