Prime Minister Tony Abbott if suspicions that a Russian surface-to-air missile took down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine are confirmed, then Russia will be held responsible.  27 Australians were among the 298 people killed in the crash.

Nine of the Australians are believed to be from Queensland, nine more from Victoria, seven from Western Australia, one from New South Wales and one from the ACT.  Abbott used unusually strong language in a meeting with the national security cabinet committee. 

“This is no light thing; this is not something that can just be dismissed as a tragic accident when you have Russian proxies using Russian-supplied equipment to do terrible things – if in fact this is what turns out to have been the case.  At the moment all we can say is the indications are this way,” Abbott said in an interview with Melbourne radio station 3AW.

Australia has summoned the Russian ambassador to demand the Russian government fully co-operate with a thorough investigation.  Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is asking pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine to cooperate in the crash investigation.  Abbott is also not ruling out canceling an invitation for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to the G20 summit in Brisbane scheduled for November.