Russian president Vladimir Putin has responded cooperatively to Australia's request for investigators to be given further access to the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says.

Ms Bishop has held a 25-minute "detailed discussion" with the Russian leader on the sidelines of a summit of European and Asian leaders in Italy.

The Foreign Minister said she received assurances from Mr Putin that he would help facilitate access to the crash site for international investigators but could not confirm a timeframe in which the Russian president would act.

"I had a very detailed discussion with him. I expressed our concerns about the Malaysia Airlines crash," Ms Bishop said.

"He said that he would seek to respond to my request by asking the separatists to provide that access.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 30 seconds 3 m 30 s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop speaks to AM Download 6.4 MB

"I announced to the gathered world leaders that I'd had a conversation with President Putin and that he had been most cooperative and had responded very constructively to my request that Russia use its influence to ensure that the independent investigators can have access to the crash site of MH17."

Australia has accused Moscow of aiding the separatist revolt in eastern Ukraine by providing troops, arms and possibly the missile which brought the passenger jet down in July and killed almost 300 people, including 38 Australian citizens and residents.

Russia denies the charges but says it has a right to defend the interests of the region's Russian-speaking majority.

An international team, including Australians, was forced to evacuate the site in the weeks after the disaster as fighting intensified in the area.

Ms Bishop said the investigation teams wanted to re-examine the crash site before the Ukrainian winter set in.

"We have been informed by the experts that they require one more site visit to the crash site for the purposes of checking for any remains. There is one particular area that they want to revisit," she said.

"But also the crash site needs to be accessed by the forensic investigators who are looking into the details of the shooting down of the plane."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott earlier this week said he would "shirtfront" Mr Putin at the G20 summit in Brisbane next month, prompting a stinging rebuke from senior Russian figures and political commentators. Ms Bishop said the issue was not raised directly.

Mr Putin's aides also confirmed to the Foreign Minister that the Russian leader plans to attend the G20 meeting.

Breakthrough on ceasefire, gas deal talks

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have made progress at the Italian summit towards resolving a row over gas supplies, but European leaders said Moscow had to do much more to prop up a fragile ceasefire and end fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The mooted deal aimed at re-opening Russian gas supplies to Ukraine ahead of the cold winter months came as something of a surprise following an initial round of talks in Milan that the Kremlin said was "full of misunderstandings and disagreements".

However, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said a subsequent meeting with Mr Putin and the leaders of France and Germany had made some headway in defusing a crisis that has revived memories of Cold War enmity.

"We have the first limited progress on the gas issue. We have agreed on the main parameters of the contract," he said, adding that all sides remain committed to a ceasefire deal struck last month to halt a pro-Russia revolt.

The West has clamped sanctions on Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea in March and its support for separatists battling government troops in the east of Ukraine.

Mr Putin said Moscow had agreed in a deal with France, Germany and Italy to use reconnaissance drones to monitor the shaky truce in eastern Ukraine.

"It was agreed that we will use unmanned aviation devices, modern technology, which allow you to pinpoint where strikes hit," Mr Putin said.

"Italy, France, Germany and Russia expressed their desire to work together."

Russia displays an unconstructive mood at Italy talks: Germany

Despite the deal, German chancellor Angela Merkel said she could not "see a breakthrough here at all" in efforts to cool tensions with Russia over the ceasefire.

"We will continue to talk. There was progress on some details, but the main issue is continued violations of the territorial integrity of Ukraine," she said.

Ms Merkel's position as German leader in effect means that she sets the tone of EU relations with Russia, and she has taken the lead within Europe in trying to persuade Mr Putin to change track over Ukraine.

She had a rocky time in Milan, however, with one German official saying the Russian leader had not displayed a "too constructive mood".

On Friday, Ms Merkel reprimanded the former Soviet KGB spy in front of EU and Asian leaders, according to people present.

After a speech in which Mr Putin raised doubts about the sovereignty of Ukraine, Ms Merkel reminded him of the 1994 Budapest agreement, in which Russia recognised the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea.

The Kremlin also sounded unhappy about the initial round of meetings - particularly a breakfast attended by Mr Putin, Mr Poroshenko and an array of EU leaders.

"The talks are indeed difficult, full of misunderstandings, disagreements, but they are nevertheless ongoing, the exchange of opinion is in progress," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, accusing some unnamed participants of taking an "absolutely biased, non-flexible, non-diplomatic" approach.

EU officials said the gas talks would continue in Brussels next week, with Mr Poroshenko telling reporters that the financing still needed to be resolved.

Moscow cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in June over unpaid debts and a pricing disagreement. This has sparked fears that the Russian gas that transits Ukraine en route to Europe could also be disrupted this winter.

ABC/Reuters