SYDNEY MORNING HERALD 14 OCT - ABBOTT'S VIEWS ON PUTIN SPARK ANGRY REACTION FROM RUSSIA

A shirt-front is a front-on charge designed to knock an opponent to the ground. It is commonly used in Australian rules football. Mr Abbott's tough talking over Moscow's role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over east Ukraine in July has prompted a shrill response from Russia. In an opinion piece published in the Russian political newspaper Pravda, the author claims Mr Abbott displays "insolence" and Australia has a "colonial chip on its shoulder". The language in the opinion piece, which was penned in response to Mr Abbott's earlier comments about Mr Putin's attendance at the G20 summit, but before his "shirt-front" declaration on Monday, gives an insight into the strong reaction expected to emerge from Russia over the coming days. "I would advise Russia's President Vladimir Putin to wash his hands carefully and sterilise them after shaking the paw offered to him by Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the forthcoming G20 summit in Brisbane," columnist Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey wrote. "Tony Abbott displays a degree of insolence, arrogance and incompetence which mirrors the intrusiveness, belligerence and chauvinism inherent in other members of the Anglo Saxon alliance in NATO." Mr Bancroft-Hinchey noted he hoped his opinion piece would not offend Australians who did not support Mr Abbott. "Once again, we see a country whose political class is divorced from the collective will of its people, yet we see a politician who thinks it is cool to be rude, insolent, insulting, impolite, impertinent, unpolished, gross, unpleasant and downright impudent," he wrote. Mr Abbott was one of the most vocal critics of Russia in the days after the MH17 tragedy, sparking suggestions Mr Putin may not come to the summit. But the Russian leader is now expected to make the trip. Mr Palmer told Fairfax Media calls to block Mr Putin from attending the G20 were misguided. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten does not want Mr Putin to visit Australia. "Jaw-jaw is better than war-war," Mr Palmer said, quoting the late British prime minister Winston Churchill. On Mr Abbott's shirt-front threat, Mr Palmer said: "I don't see the Prime Minister physically attacking anyone. I think a handshake and a stern word could be more effective". In a Facebook post, PUP Senator Jacqui Lambie said Mr Abbott and Mr Shorten were behaving like "hormone affected schoolboys trying to out-macho each other on the footie field". "Start acting like mature leaders of a great country," she wrote. Ms Lambie also praised Mr Putin's "no-nonsense attitude" to Islamic extremism. "And unlike most Australian political leaders there's no BS about him," she wrote. Comment is being sought from Russia's ambassador to Australia. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-views-on-vladimir-putin-spark-angry-reaction-from-russia-20141014-115lox.html#ixzz3G4u6xEKg