Russian president says he left to get some sleep
but move may be seen as snub after he was
pressured over Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has left the G 20
summit in Australia early, live footage showed ,
after he came under intense pressure from the
West over Moscow ' s alleged support for separatist
fights in eastern Ukraine.
But Putin said his decision to leave early had
nothing to do with tensions over Ukraine. Instead ,
he said he had a long flight and wanted to catch
up on some sleep ahead of a full day's work back
home on Monday .
"We need nine hours to fly from here to
Vladivostok and another nine hours from
Vladivostok to Moscow , " he said in comments
reported by the RIA Novosti news agency .
"Then we need to get home and return to work on
Monday . There 's a need to sleep at least four to
five hours . "
The two- day summit in Brisbane , which gathered
leaders of the world' s most powerful economies ,
was focused on economic growth but was to some
extent overshadowed by the tension over Ukraine.
Leaders at the event, who included US President
Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi
Jinping, committed to reform measures aimed at
lifting their collective growth by an extra 2 . 1
percent by 2018 .
"This will add more than $2 trillion to the global
economy and create millions of jobs , " the leaders
said in the summit communique .
The fact that the Russian President left before the
official communique announcement could be seen
as a snub, Al Jazeera ' s Andrew Thomas, reporting
from Brisbane , said .
"But it has been the case that he himself was
snubbed by Western leaders, "
Thomas said .
In unusually frank language between two leaders,
Stephen Harper , the Canadian prime minister, was
reported to have told Putin as they shook hands
to " get out of Ukraine" .
According to Jason MacDonald , Harper ' s
spokesman , the prime minister told the Russian
leader: "I guess I will shake your hand but I have
only one thing to say to you: You need to get out
of Ukraine. "
Russia accused of bullying
British Prime Minister David Cameron was among
other leaders who publicly criticised Russia ,
accusing it of "bullying a smaller state in Europe "
and warning that Moscow would face further
sanctions if it continues "destabilising Ukraine ".
"I think what has been good about this G 20 is that
a very clear message has been delivered by the
countries of the European Union and America to
Russia about how we ' re going to approach this in
the months and years ahead, "
Cameron told a
news conference after the summit.
Putin, in remarks made before he left , thanked
Tony Abbott for hosting the event, despite the
Australian prime minister threatening to confront
him over the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines
Flight MH 17 over Ukraine in July .
The West says the Malaysia Airlines plane was
downed by pro -Russian rebels , using a missile
supplied by Russia . Moscow denies the charges .
The plane was carrying 298 people , including 38
Australian citizens and residents .
The announcement of Sunday ' s communique was
delayed about an hour after Putin left .
AJZ
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