Scott Morrison has issued a warning to Russia and its allies, urging them to consider the “serious and significant cost” of invading Ukraine.
The Prime Minister’s warning comes as Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne confirmed Ukraine’s eastern European neighbours were concerned they could be Russia’s next targets.
Senator Payne, who has spent the last few days in Munich in high-level security talks as Russia’s threats of invasion ramp up.
Early on Tuesday morning Australia time, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that would recognise the Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states before sending Russian troops to the area on “peacekeeping missions”.
In a marathon televised earlier address, Mr Putin claimed Ukraine was part of Russia’s history and had never been an independent nation.
Senator Payne says European countries like Poland and Lithuania, who neighbour Ukraine, were concerned that Russia could target them next.
“Countries in the region are very concerned,” she told 2GB on Tuesday morning.
“These are countries that have fought their way out from behind this sort of oppression in the past. They have done so with courage and strength, they have grown and developed over many years.
“Australia has been very clear about our commitment to their sovereignty and their territorial integrity.
“We will not be changing that position.”
Senator Payne’s comments come after former prime minister Tony Abbott told a conservative think tank that a “new iron curtain will ring down in Europe” if Russia seizes Ukraine.
He warned an invasion could also spur China to invade Taiwan, which would tip the balance of power against the West and threaten democracies.
Mr Morrison said he had been made aware of Mr Abbott’s comments, but he was focused on the “immediate situation” and said the suggestion Russia was on a peacekeeping mission was “nonsense”.
“Russia should step back. It should unconditionally withdraw back behind its own borders and stop threatening its neighbours,” Mr Morrison said on Tuesday.
“We’ve seen this behaviour before, and seeking to take opportunity to threaten a neighbour for their own advantage is simply not on.
“It’s unprovoked, it’s unwarranted, and Russia should understand that by seeking to invade another country, that this cannot advantage them and it would seriously and significantly cost Russia and their international reputation and anyone else who support them and stands with them and refuses to denounce it.”
Mr Abbott used his speech to call for more decisive action in the face of Russia and China’s escalating threats and argued that the West needed to implement lessons learnt in the Cold War.
He also warned that President Putin would not stop until he reinstated Russia as “the overlord of Eastern Europe”.
“I fear the only thing that will stop him is death, defeat or the conviction that he would lose,” Mr Abbott said.
He said the Russian President would turn his attention to the Baltic States, Poland and other former Soviet nations after turning Ukraine into a colony.
Labor’s foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong said Australia should focus its diplomatic efforts on deterring Russia from making any further decisions about invasion.
“I don’t think it’s useful to necessarily publicly traverse all of the consequences, but we know there are no good consequences from this sort of aggression from Russia,” Senator Wong told ABC Radio National.
But Western countries are continuing to urge Russia not to invade, with Senator Payne reiterating that conflict “can be avoided”.
“We are continuing to request and suggest, as the US and UK and countries in the European Union have done, that this is not inevitable,” Senator Payne said.
“This does not have to happen. There are still choices to be made by Russia here.
“We hope that we can see productive discussions continue and this is to be avoided.”
Senator Wong said Russia’s latest move to recognise independent states was a “blatant violation of territorial integrity”.
“This is why the international community have to be united and have to be clear there is no justification, no matter what Mr Putin says, for a decision to engage in conflict,” Senator Wong told ABC Radio.
“We would join with not only the Australian government but many European governments and the United States in being very clear that this is a violation of international law and not providing any justification for conflict in eastern Ukraine.”
Australia is working closxjmtzywely with its “like-minded partners” to determine what sanctions would be imposed if Russia dies invade Ukraine.
Senator Payne said whatever sanctions were decided would be “deep, serious and have a real impact”.
Mr Morrison said “the moment” that other countries put in place “strong and severe” sanctions on Russia “we will be in lockstep with them”.
“We will be moving just as quickly and that is the discussions we have been engaged with now for some time with our partners,” Mr Morrison said.
