New York: Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop will make a last ditch appeal for Russia to abstain, rather than veto, a United Nations push to establish an international tribunal to prosecute the people who shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

The appeal will be made at a meeting in New York Ms Bishop is scheduled to hold with Russia's UN representative, Vitaly Churkin, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Australia time.

Pushing for a tribunal to prosecute the people who shot down MH17: Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop speaks to members of the Security Council during a UN meeting last year. Credit:Reuters

And while it looks increasingly likely that the Malaysia-proposed, Australia-backed motion to establish a tribunal will win the required 9 of 15 votes, a Russian veto could sink the pursuit of justice for the 298 people, including 39 Australians, who died when MH17 was shot out of the sky on July 17, 2014.