Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he will not follow US President Barack Obama and the European Union in leveling heavier economic and political sanctions on Russia for the Kremlin’s support of the rebels in eastern Ukraine – rebels who are widely assumed to have shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 with 298 people on board including 38 Australians.

“We already have some sanctions on Russia.  I’m not saying that we might not at some point in the future move further.  But at the moment, our focus is not on sanctions; our focus is on bringing home our dead as quickly as we humanly can,” Abbott said.

Last month, Australia introduced economic sanctions and travel bans that target 50 people and eleven entities believed to be actively involved in Russian meddling in Ukraine.  Since the downing of MH17, Abbott has had several telephone conversations with Putin, and says the Russian leader is cooperating with international effort to repatriate the remains of the dead.

In the same talk with reporters, Abbott spokes about Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar – they’re the two Australian men who went to Iraq to fight for Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS.  The two men posted gruesome pictures to social media over the weekend, selfies with the apparently severed heads of Iraqi soldiers.  The accounts have since been cancelled.  Federal police have issued arrest warrants for the two former Sydney men, and officials warn they could be committed war crimes.