Putin to leave G20 summit early?

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to leave the G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, earlier than planned on Sunday, a member of the Russian delegation told the press on Saturday.

"The program of the second day [for Putin] is changing, it's being cut short," a source in the Russian delegation said on condition of anonymity.

The source said Putin would attend summit sessions on Sunday but will not attend an official lunch, adding that the Russian leader had business to attend to in Moscow.

Putin has been under increased pressure for the crisis in Ukraine, with Moscow being blamed for providing support, weapons and fighters to a pro-Russian insurgency in the country's east.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who is attending the summit, told a news conference that "Russia must stop the inflow of weapons and troops from its territory into Ukraine, and Russia must withdraw those already present," adding that further EU sanctions against Moscow were possible.

Criticism from Merkel

Putin was criticized from a number of the leaders after the summit opened on Saturday, among them Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to the German press agency DPA, she and Putin discussed the unresolved conflict in Ukraine, though earlier she had been quoted as saying she didn't the talks to produce any "qualitative results."

Moscow continues to deny any involvement in the Ukraine conflict, which has claimed more 4,000 lives since it began in April.

In a bid to improve Russia's damaged image in the West, a Kremlin spokesman said Saturday that Putin and British Prime Minister David Cameron had "expressed an interest" in rebuilding relations between Russia and the West during closed-door talks.

Pressure over shooting down of passenger airliner

Putin has also come under pressure for his handling of the investigation into the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in July, in which 298 died, including 38 Australian residents.

Kyiv and many Western countries have accused the pro-Russian rebels of having downed the plane with the help of Russian weaponry, something both the separatists and Moscow deny, instead blaming the incident on Ukrainian forces.

G20 meeting

Heads of the world's leading economies began a two-day summit in Brisbane, Australia on Saturday. The ninth G20 summit opened with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott saying he hoped the summit would convey "a message of hope and optimism."

Abbott had called on the leaders at the meeting - who include Germany's Merkel, United States President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia's Putin - to "be open with each other," suggesting that the use of first names would help in this aim.

Though the crisis in Ukraine has overshadowed the G20 summit, talks in Brisbane are also expected to cover economic and environmental issues.

The G20 leaders on Saturday also discussed the subject of fighting the Ebola epidemic, which they pledged to "extinguish."

"G20 members are committed to do what is necessary to ensure the international effort can extinguish the outbreak and address its medium-term economic and humanitarian costs," the leaders said.

sb/glb (AFP, Reuters)