It was part of a tourism play carried out by Australian authorities on the sidelines of the gathering, which convenes dignitaries from the world`s 20 most important economies.
The summit`s diplomatic wranglings and tedious joint statements have faded from memory, but we`ll always have President Obama holding Jimbelung, a cuddly, eucalyptus-munching marsupial.
So when news emerged this week that authorities in the state of Victoria had secretly euthanised hundreds of koalas in an act of population control, some foreign observers couldn`t resist bringing up the scenes at the G20.
On its Facebook page, the Russian embassy in Canberra posted this tongue-in-cheek comment, expressing its mock concern for the creature held aloft by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Hope in the number of euthanised koalas did not get those animals that leaders at the G20 summit in Brisbane were photographed with," the post reads in slightly awkward English, before it`s followed by a comment in Russian.
The gag ignores the fact that this cull of nearly 700 koalas took place between 2013 and 2014, before the G20 summit.
Relations between Moscow and Canberra have been frosty of late. Ahead of the summit last November, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott threatened to "shirt-front" — an Australian term for a hard tackle — Putin over the latter`s supposed meddling in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian embassy in Australia warned Abbott at the time that Putin is a professional judo wrestler.
Russia sent a fleet of warships to international waters near Queensland in an apparent display of muscle-flexing before the G20 meeting in Brisbane.
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