In September 2007 President Vladimir Putin became the first incumbent Russian leader to visit Australia for the APEC summit in Sydney . On 7 September 2007 , head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko and Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer , in the presence of Prime Minister John Howard and President Putin , signed the '' Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Use of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes '' , superseding the '' Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy '' which was concluded on 15 February 1990 . The 1990 Agreement only allowed Russia to enrich uranium on behalf of third countries and the 2007 Agreement allowed for enriching of uranium for use in Russia 's civilian nuclear power industry . Putin dismissed suggestions that Russia would use Australia-supplied uranium for nuclear weapons or military purposes , and explained that Russia has an " excessive supply " of weapons-grade uranium and the State has plans to build 30 nuclear power stations by 2022 , and that the Agreement with Australia was purely one of economics . Under the deal , Australia could supply Russia with US$ 1 billion worth of uranium , and Kiriyenko stated that Russia is ready to process 4,000 tonnes of Australian uranium
the APEC summit
APEC Australia 2007
Australia–Russia relations