Julie Bishop ‘shirt fronted’ Vladimir Putin over downing of MH17
Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has revealed she was the leader to confront Vladimir Putin over the downing of MH17.
Former PM Tony Abbott had vowed to “shirt front” Mr Putin in the wake of the tragedy which claimed the lives of 38 Australians back in 2014.
Despite his fighting words, Mr Abbott did not deliver on the threat when he had the opportunity at the 2014 APEC forum in Beijing. The former PM held a bilateral meeting with Mr Putin where he made the observation that when the US had inadvertently shot down a civilian aircraft it had “duly apologised and made appropriate restitution’’.
Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Abbott had not delivered on his “shirt-front” threat.
“It appears that he did not try,” he said at the time.
Ms Bishop said today that she took the opportunity to speak to the Russian leader after the former PM was unable to attend meeting of Asian and European leaders.
Ms Bishop said she “hotfooted” to Mr Putin as soon as his advisers left him alone.
“I hotfooted it round the other side, and tapped him on the shoulder,” she said.
“We went away from the table and we stood there and he spoke English and understood what I said very clearly.
“We spoke for about ten minutes. I delivered the message to him as forcefully as I could.
“His eyes never left my face. And they are piercing blue eyes.
“Then he said ‘so this is what you call a shirt front?’
“I said it’s more of a diplomatic button holing.”
Ms Bishop was speaking at the University of NSW, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The member for Curtin also spoke in praise of US President Doanld Trump’s diplomacy with North Korea.
“It has led to a situation where bookies are backing Kim Jong-un and (South Korea’s) President Jae-in Moon to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in a couple of hours from now,”
