Not sent with love: Navy shadows warships
A convoy of heavily armed Russian warships is powering towards Australia this morning, ahead of President Vladimir Putin's arrival for the G20.
7News broke this story last night about the move, which is being seen as a defiant gesture not just to Australia but to the West and a reminder that Russia is still a big player in global affairs.
Locally the presence of these warships is considered a response to the Prime Minister's shirtfront threat to Vladimir Putin.
This morning the Russian leader’s fleet is sitting in the Coral Sea, just outside Australian waters.
The navy has been monitoring its movements for a week, and has now sent two frigates to shadow the vessels.
Tony Abbott says Australia has been monitoring the warships for some time and would continue to do so.
"Plainly it takes weeks, if not months, to deploy warships thousands of miles from your bases," he said.
"So this Russian deployment into Pacific waters is something that has been a long, long time in preparation.
"It's not unusual for Russia to deploy naval elements when there are significant international events taking place.
"Certainly it is unusual for Russian naval elements to be in Australian waters.
"Unusual, not entirely unprecedented, but unusual."
Mr Abbott said the Russian navy also deployed to Singapore when the republic hosted an APEC conference, and in the Pacific when San Francisco when it hosted a major summit.
"If Australia, the United States and others expect, indeed demand, the right of passage for naval vessels in Asia, obviously we have to accept the right of passage for military or naval vessels in the Pacific," he said.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says Russia's move is entirely consistent with international law.
"It's not unexpected," Ms Bishop told reporters in Sydney.
"Russia is entitled ... to traverse international waters, so we have been aware of it for some time. We've been tracking it."
When asked whether the expedition was a show of force, the foreign minister said Russia was simply doing what countries with big navies do.
"Russia is a significant country with a significant navy," she said.
Defence says there is no concern while they stay in international waters, but the big question is whether the Russians will seek port access.
They would have to give 48 hours notice, and Australia would then consider whether to approve or deny access to our waters, potentially sparking a diplomatic stand-off.
Sunrise Foreign Editor Keith Suter says it is a public relations problem for President Putin.
"We see the Russians going back to an earlier era of Cold War hostility rather than looking to the future which is increasingly one of international trade and countries operating across boundaries,” Dr Suter said.
Whilst Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said it is about politics in Russia.
“It's about President Putin making a statement back home," Newman said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is expected to make a comment later today.
He is in Myanmar for the East-Asia Summit where he is interestingly planning discussions on maritime security.
News that Russian warships are in international waters near Australia will only serve to create more anti-Putin sentiment, a G20 protest organiser says.
The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) is expecting at least 200 people to rally against Russian president Vladimir Putin in Brisbane's King George Square on Saturday.
But AFUO president Stefan Romaniw says the naval situation is encouraging more people from the wider community to attend the rally because it highlights Mr Putin's arrogance.
"People are starting to see that the man's erratic and anything can happen," Mr Romaniw told AAP.
"These things in a sense are unprecedented and that's the way he operates."
Mr Romaniw has called on other G20 leaders to show their disapproval of Russia's actions, particularly over the MH17 plane crash investigation, by imposing sanctions on the country and stripping it of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
"He needs to be hit hard, to be ostracised in that (G20) meeting and feel the full brunt of the international community," he said.
Mr Romaniw said demonstrators would send their message to Mr Putin on Saturday through a variety of street theatre, speeches and anti-Putin signage.
News break - November 13
