Prime Minister Tony Abbott has toned down his language on Russia, but still insists he will hold a “very robust conversation” with Vladimir Putin during the G20 summit.

Mr Abbott grabbed global headlines on Monday when he said he would “shirtfront” the president over Russia’s lack of co-operation with an investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which resulted in 298 people being killed including 38 Australians.

Twenty-four hours later, the PM refused to use the same term but did not back away from his vow to confront Mr Putin.

• Abbott: ‘I’ll shirtfront Putin’
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“We are going to have a very, very robust conversation,” Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

“Plainly 38 innocent Australians were murdered. It wasn’t an accident. It was a crime.

“And it was a plane brought down by Russian-backed rebels using Russian-supplied equipment.”

Mr Abbott said his program for the G20 was still being finalised, but he expected Mr Putin would be available for a conversation “while he is a guest of Australia”.

Russia: threat “immature”

The Russians, meanwhile, viewed Mr Abbott’s threat simply as “immature”.

Russian second secretary to Australia Alexander Odoevskiy said there had been no request for a bilateral meeting between the leaders, and Moscow was now expecting a physical confrontation.

“We consider the recent statements tough talk, we consider it immature,” he said.

“This is an international event focused around the economic issues, and as we are aware at this point there has not been a request for a bilateral meeting, either from Moscow or from Canberra.

“So we are not sure where exactly and when the Australian Prime Minister would like to shirtfront president Putin.”

Comment ‘won’t get a lot of ear abroad, especially in Russia’

Mr Odoevskiy also said the term “shirtfront” seemed a bit outdated.

“Obviously, this term belongs to Aussie rules football, and [is] very familiar to many Australians, but not widely recognised abroad,” he said.

PM Tony Abbott likes to keep fit. Photo: AAP

“So for me personally I did some research this morning and figured out that this term is not used in the modern days in the current game. It’s quite old-fashioned.

“Second thing I figured out is that it is illegal to shirtfront someone, so you get punishment for this, and my assessment is that this statement probably targets Australian internal politics and targets more the Australian audience.

“This won’t get a lot of ear abroad and especially in Russia.

“Frankly speaking, we are not expecting any physical confrontation during the upcoming Brisbane summit.

“If there is bilateral contact, it most probably will be a battle of ideas, a battle of words, but nothing physical – that’s our estimate.”

Mr Odoevskiy also said it was admirable that both leaders were “very fit”.

“I personally know that the Australian Prime Minister is a very keen cyclist … [and] Russia’s president does a lot of judo-wrestling.”

“Shirtfront” threat makes global headlines

Mr Abbott’s pledge to “shirtfront” Putin at the G20 summit made global headlines.

The comments were picked up extensively in foreign media including the Financial Times, BBC, the Wall Street Journal and China’s Xinhua newsagency.

Russian president Vladimir Putin. Photo: Getty

An opinion article in the newspaper Pravda, considered to often represent the Russian government’s views, accused Mr Abbott of “insolence” and Australia having a “colonial chip” on its shoulder.

“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,” freelance journalist Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey wrote.

Former Australian ambassador to Russia Cavan Hogue said the Pravda article was a good indication of what Mr Putin thought of the Australian prime minister.

“The line taken and the tone and the timing would all have been set by him,” he told ABC Radio.

“It’s pretty clear that he’s not really interested very much in what our prime minister says.”

Asked what the Russian leader’s reaction would be to the threat of being shirtfronted by Mr Abbott, Mr Hogue said: “I think he’ll first try and work out what `shirtfronting’ means”.

“He has two options – one is to really hit hard, or the other is just to sort of ignore him and treat him with disdain,” he said.

– with AAP, ABC