A month after Australia helped scrap a G20 photo with Russia, Albanese won’t rule out standing near Putin at APEC

Anthony Albanese is heading into the most awkward photo opportunity of his year without saying no to it.

Speaking to reporters in Manila on Sunday, where he is attending the ASEAN summit, the Prime Minister declined to rule out standing in the traditional APEC family photo alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is expected in Shenzhen later this week.

“I will respect and of course take into consideration the wishes of our host country,” he said.

He was blunt about Russia’s war. “This is an illegal and immoral invasion,” he said, adding that it was a bigger country acting as a bully in breach of international law. He also played down any chance of a direct meeting with Putin, saying only that if the two ended up in the same room he would make Australia’s position clear.

Why is a photo a big deal?

Because Australia has already drawn this line once. At a G20 summit in October, the leaders’ group photo was cancelled after objections from European, Australian and Canadian delegations, sparing Foreign Minister Penny Wong from posing with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov.

This time the host is China, Australia’s largest trading partner, and the summit is the setting for talks between Putin, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. Albanese said of those talks: “We think dialogue is a good thing, and we await the outcome of that dialogue.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the planned three-way meeting “Yalta 2.0”, a reference to the 1945 conference at which the wartime powers divided Europe into spheres of influence.

Who else will be in the picture?

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has indicated he will take part in the photo out of respect for China. That matters for Australia: Canada stood alongside Australia and the Europeans in October. Other leaders have not stated a position.

Putin can travel to China despite the International Criminal Court’s 2023 arrest warrant against him, because China is not a member of the court.

Has Albanese softened on Russia?

His words have not. He said he had every respect for Zelensky and the Ukrainian people, and that Australia would keep engaging with both the United States and China while standing firmly behind Ukraine.

What has changed is the room he is walking into. Albanese will meet Trump at the East Asia and Quad leaders’ summits in Manila on Tuesday, before flying to Shenzhen, where he is also due to hold talks with Xi. Asked whether he would raise the South China Sea, he said Australia would engage diplomatically rather than through the media.

What does it mean for Australians?

Australia has backed Ukraine with military aid and sanctions on Russia since 2022, and the Prime Minister says that support stands. A photo carries no policy change, but images from Shenzhen will be read in Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing as a signal of how firmly middle powers hold their line when a major trading partner sets the stage.