Putin cites ‘need to sleep’ on leaving tense G20 summit

By: 10 years ago

In this photo released by G20 Australia and taken on Saturday Nov 15, 2014, Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott and President of Russia Vladimir Putin hold koala’s during a photo opportunity on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Brisbane, Australia. AP

BRISBANE — Vladimir Putin jetted out of Australia Sunday after a testy G20 summit where he faced concerted Western fire over the Ukraine crisis, saying he left slightly early because he needed to get some sleep.

The Russian strongman, a judo black belt who prides himself on his stamina, left before the final communique from the weekend talks was issued, but attended the annual forum’s wrap-up lunch and praised the “constructive” discussions.

Speaking at a news conference just before flying out of Brisbane, he thanked Tony Abbott for hosting the event, despite the Australian prime minister threatening to confront him over the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in July.

Putin added in comments reported by the RIA Novosti news agency that the decision to leave Brisbane early had nothing to do with tensions over Ukraine.

Instead, he wanted to catch up on some sleep ahead of a full day’s work back home on Monday.

“We need nine hours to fly from here to Vladivostok and another nine hours from Vladivostok to Moscow,” he said.

“Then we need to get home and return to work on Monday. There’s a need to sleep at least four to five hours.”