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Australia PM: Putin Going to G20 'a Step too Far'

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants Russia's Vladimir Putin excluded from the G20 summit later this year Steven SAPHORE AFP/File
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants Russia's Vladimir Putin excluded from the G20 summit later this year Steven SAPHORE AFP/File
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Australia PM: Putin Going to G20 'a Step too Far'

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants Russia's Vladimir Putin excluded from the G20 summit later this year Steven SAPHORE AFP/File
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants Russia's Vladimir Putin excluded from the G20 summit later this year Steven SAPHORE AFP/File

Allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit with other world leaders at this year's G20 summit would be "a step too far", Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday.

Putin has already been invited to the G20 heads of state summit in November by this year's host Jakarta, and he intends to be there, Russia's ambassador to Indonesia said this week.

But Morrison objected, citing Russia's war in neighboring Ukraine, AFP said.

"I think we need to have people in the room that aren't invading other countries," he said.

The prime minister said he had been in "direct contact" with Indonesian President Joko Widodo about Putin's attendance at the Group of 20, which brings together the world's top economies, including the United States, China, Japan and some European nations.

"Russia has invaded Ukraine. This is a violent and aggressive act that shatters the international rule of law," Morrison told a news conference in Melbourne.

"And the idea of sitting around a table with Vladimir Putin... for me, is a step too far."

China this week described Russia as an "important member" of the G20 and said no member had the right to expel another country, after Washington raised the prospect of excluding Moscow.

Morrison noted that Australia and the Netherlands this month have also launched fresh legal proceedings against Russia over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing everyone on board.

International investigators say it was struck by a surface-to-air missile originally brought from a Russian military base.

"So we know Vladimir Putin’s form when it comes to taking the lives of innocent civilians," Morrison said.

"I am not shocked by their barbarity. I am not shocked by their arrogance in what they are seeking to impose on Ukraine. And that’s why Australia has been one of the strongest in taking action in relation to Russia."

Australia announced Sunday a ban on all exports of alumina and bauxite to Russia while pledging more weapons and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

The government says Australia has levelled 476 sanctions against Russian individuals and institutions since the invasion began on February 24.

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Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
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Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan.

Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and "we don't discuss hypotheticals", Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day," he said.

The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the US under-secretary of defense for policy, has been pressing Australian and Japanese officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the US does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan.

Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes "urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense".

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking in Shanghai at the start of a six-day visit to China that is likely to focus on security and trade, said Canberra did not want any change to the status quo on Taiwan.

Conroy said Australia was concerned about China's military buildup of nuclear and conventional forces, and wants a balanced Indo-Pacific region where no country dominates. He said China was seeking a military base in the Pacific, which was not in Australia's interest, Reuters reported.

'GOAL IS NO WAR'

Talisman Sabre, Australia's largest war-fighting exercise with the United States, opened on Sunday on Sydney Harbour and will involve 40,000 troops from 19 countries, including Japan, South Korea, India, Britain, France and Canada.

Conroy said China's navy might be watching the exercise to collect information, as it had done in the past.

The war games will span thousands of kilometers from Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia's east coast, in a rehearsal of joint war fighting, said Vice Admiral Justin Jones, chief of joint operations for the Australian Defense Force.

The air, sea, land and space exercises over two weeks will "test our ability to move our forces into the north of Australia and operate from Australia", Jones told reporters.

"I will leave it to China to interpret what 19 friends, allies and partners wanting to operate together in the region means to them. But for me... it is nations that are in search of a common aspiration for peace, stability, a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said.

US Army Lieutenant General Joel Vowell, deputy commanding general for the Pacific, said Talisman Sabre would improve the readiness of militaries to respond together and was "a deterrent mechanism because our ultimate goal is no war".

"If we could do all this alone and we could go fast, but because we want to go far, we have to do it together and that is important because of the instability that is resident in the region," Vowell said.

The United States is Australia's major security ally. Although Australia does not permit foreign bases, the US military is expanding its rotational presence and fuel stores on Australian bases, which from 2027 will have US Virginia submarines at port in Western Australia.