Melbourne: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has reportedly asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to apologize for Russia's involvement in the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 and pay compensation to the families of 298 victims.
The two held a 15-minute meeting about the MH17 disaster on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' meeting in Beijing, reported News.com.au.
Abbott delivered on his promise to personally confront Putin and asked him to follow the precedent set by the United States who paid compensation after it accidently shot an Iranian civilian aircraft in 1988.
He also told the Russian leader that he had evidence that proved Russia had armed the rebels who downed the aircraft over Ukrainian border killing 38 Australians. He also alleged that intelligence reports showed that the missile was returned to Moscow after the incident, Abbott's spokeswoman said.
Abbott's office said that Putin agreed to provide all relevant information to the independent investigation and said that the probe should proceed with full support from the international community.
However, he did not guarantee an apology or compensation to victim's families. The Kremlin corroborated the meeting and said that both the leaders favoured a "genuine" investigation into the tragedy.
