Putin exits G20 summit early ‘to get some rest’

Russian president Vladimir Putin made an early exit yesterday from a two-day summit of world leaders where he was roundly criticised over Russia’s escalating aggression in Ukraine, but brushed off suggestions that he had felt pressured.

Mr Putin was the first leader to fly out of Brisbane yesterday afternoon as his fellow leaders in the G20 club of wealthy and developing nations shared a lunch and before they released the communiqué to cap off their annual summit.

He also left Australia shortly before President Barack Obama and European leaders opened their talks on Ukraine, where Russia is backing separatist rebels in the east after annexing Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in March. In July, a Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down, killing all 298 people on board, while flying over a rebel-held area of east Ukraine.