Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday that he will "shirt-front" Russian President Vladimir Putin, shown here, in response to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over restive eastern Ukraine in July. UPI/David Silpa | License Photo

Tony Abbott, prime minister of Australia, shown here, said he plans to "shirt-front" Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia's role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over restive Ukraine in July 2014. UPI /Monika Graff | License Photo

CANBERRA, Australia, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday that he will "shirt-front" Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over restive eastern Ukraine.

The two leaders are expected to come face to face at next month's G20 Leaders' Summit in Brisbane.


Abbott told reporters on Monday that he planned to confront Putin, using the Australian football term "shirt-fronting" to refer to a front-on physical challenge, because of Russia's role in the July plane crash that killed 38 Australians.

"Look, I'm going to shirt-front Mr Putin ... you bet I am. I am going to be saying to Mr. Putin, Australians were murdered. They were murdered by Russian-backed rebels using Russian-supplied equipment. ... "We are very unhappy about this. We accept that you didn't want this to happen but we now demand that you fully cooperate with the criminal investigation, and if the criminal investigation identifies suspects that you have some influence over, they've got to be produced and justice has got to be done."

Alexander Odoevskiy, with the Russian Embassy in Canberra, responded to Abbott's comments, telling CNN they were "immature," and noting "It's not the usual way one leader can communicate with another leader."