Tony Abbott appeared at a memorial service in Parliament shortly after having potentially cancerous sun spots removed from his face.
The former prime minister, 66, joined his peers in Canberra on Wednesday to mark 10 years since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down, killing all 298 passengers, including 38 Australians.
The scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by a Buk missile fired by Russian-aligned forces while flying over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
Abbott, who was prime minister at the time, famously threatened to “blacklist” Russian President Vladimir Putin after the attack and still believes Moscow should take responsibility for the tragedy.
Speaking to ABC Radio ahead of the memorial service on Wednesday, he said: ‘Frankly, I should have done more than just hit him, because that was probably the only way to stop him.
“Russian missile batteries do not reach neighbouring countries by accident: such things only happen if they are authorised from above.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong thanked Mr Abbott for attending the service in her speech, and he sat next to the deputy foreign minister, Tim Watts, with a series of painful-looking red spots on his face and head.
Daily Mail Australia can confirm the sores were caused by a sun spot removal treatment, which is a cancer prevention method.
Tony Abbott is pictured during the MH17 memorial service in Parliament on Wednesday
Tony Abbott is pictured, left, with Deputy Foreign Secretary Tim Watts on Wednesday.
Dr. Parisa Fatemeh Arianejad, dermatologist with Aurora Dermatology In Sydney, she told the Daily Mail Australia that sunspots are precancerous lesions.
“There’s a four percent chance they’ll turn into cancer within five years, so when we see sunspots, we need to treat them,” he said.
While she was not sure what treatment Mr. Abbott received, Dr. Arianejed believes he may have received photodynamic therapy.
The treatment involves a cream being applied to the skin to increase sensitivity, before light energy is used to kill the cells.
The treatment causes temporary inflammation, but over time the skin heals completely.
Other treatments involve freezing or burning the sunspot or removing the lesions surgically.
“Risks increase as you get older, but there are other factors too, such as if you were born in Australia, if you had sunburn as a child or if you don’t use sunscreen,” she said.
Mr Abbott, a former triathlete, managed to maintain a rigorous outdoor exercise regime throughout his tenure as the nation’s leader.
Tony Abbott is a fitness enthusiast who has competed in triathlons. He is pictured after a swimming competition in 2012, two years before he was elected Prime Minister.
Tony Abbott is pictured, second from left at front, on an expedition with a member of the Royal Fire Brigade last year.
Her workouts consisted of 50 minutes of cardio, which included running outdoors, cycling or swimming in the ocean.
Mr Abbott did not mention his skin treatments when he spoke to ABC Radio on Wednesday, focusing instead on the MH17 tragedy.
“Russian President Putin owes the families of the dead an apology and compensation, because clearly this plane was shot down in pursuit of Russia’s geopolitical objectives in Ukraine,” he said.
“Yes, it was a tragedy, but it was worse than that. It was an atrocity.”
Reflecting on the anniversary, Mr Abbott recalled the passionate exchange that took place when he met Mr Putin for the first time following the downing of the plane at the 2001 APEC Summit in Beijing.
He recalled that the Russian president had said that all Ukrainians were fascists and that they themselves had shot down the plane as “a kind of provocation.”
“Then (Putin) said that Ukraine had no right to exist.”
Mr Abbott said they were returning to the conference when Mr Putin turned around, grabbed him by the elbows and tried to shake him, before pushing him and saying: “Look, you’re not a native Australian, but I’m a native Russian.”
He continued: “At the time it was pretty obvious to me what he meant. I think it’s a shame that more wasn’t done to help Ukrainians.”
Pictured: The reconstructed wreckage of MH17 at a military base in the Netherlands in 2021