MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin is heading into showdown talks with Australia's leader as part of what is expected to be his toughest foreign trip since the start of the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
But Putin appears well prepared to take the heat in Beijing later on Tuesday and Brisbane this weekend, enjoying the Forbes title of the "most powerful man in the world" and domestic approval ratings exceeding 80 percent.
Much to the chagrin of Washington and Brussels, Moscow is also cultivating support in major developing economies such as China -- which pledged ever-closer cooperation with Russia this week.
"There was this idea, in Australia in particular, to turn the G20 into a place where Russia would be stigmatised for its aggression against Ukraine," said Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Kremlin-connected Council on Foreign and Defence Policy.
"That won't happen because half of the G20 members are not interested in seeing so much hype about this," he told AFP, ahead of the G20's Brisbane summit this weekend.
"There won't be any flagellation."
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