Australia has announced additional financial sanctions on Russian oligarchs and 339 members of parliament as troops continue to invade Ukraine as Foreign Minister Marise Payne labelled the invasion as “unprovoked, unacceptable and unjustified”.
The invasion was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with Moscow launching a brutal three-pronged assault on its neighbour, attacking by land, sea and air.
Russian troops are now attempting to take over the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with the city facing a barrage of missile attacks overnight as residents are being forced to seek shelter from the violence.
Australia initially introduced sanctions, including travel bans, on Russian individuals on Wednesday.
Ms Payne on Saturday revealed further co-ordinated sanctions will be imposed to “inflict a cost on those who bear responsibility or who hold levers of power”.
Acting Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham on Friday night signed the “necessary instruments” to put financial sanctions on eight Russian oligarchs who are close to President Putin, Ms Payne said at a press conference.
xjmtzywThe oligarchs are people of key economic and strategic significance, high figures in state banks and companies who are “very close to the president” and have “amassed great wealth through their positions of power”.
There are now also sanctions on 339 members of the Russian Duma, who are the political facilitators of the action.
“We will today take steps to sanction key figures in the Belarusian government who are allied with Russia and who are abetting the invasion,” Ms Payne said.
Senator Payne said Australia will continue to introduce sanctions on Mr Putin’s “inner circle” and the defence industry in Russia, after the UK, EU and Canada announced they will be sanctioning the President himself, as well as Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
She hopes Australia will be able to take similar steps and is taking advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on exactly how to do it.
“It is an exceptional step to sanction leaders but this is an exceptional situation,” she said.
“Vladimir Putin has unparalleled personal power over his country and he has chosen to go to war against a neighbour that posed no threat to Russia, because he wants to reverse history and take away the freedom and the democracy that the Ukrainian people chose for themselves.”
“He will be personally responsible for the deaths and the suffering of innocent Ukrainians.”
Ms Payne said Mr Putin will be personally held accountable for the violence after he showed “no interest in genuine dialogue” and has continuously “lied and deceived”.
“It is clear that the only way to exact a cost for those actions is to ensure that he, himself, shares some of that cost and some of the pain that he is inflicting on everyone else around him in Ukraine,” she said.
The Foreign Affairs Minister has vowed to protect Ukrainian people and said more assessments will be made as the situation becomes clearer.
She said the humanitarian situation is “serious” and “likely to escalate”.
Camps have been set up to house fleeing Ukrainians in neighbouring country Moldova, housing people in the border towns of Palanca and Ocnita.
The infamous Chernobyl power plant fell on Friday, with Russian forces reportedly holding employees hostage.
The strategically important Snake Island, also known as Zmiinyi Island, has also been captured with Ukrainian guards making a defiant last stand before all were killed by the invaders.
The death toll on the Ukrainian side has soared to more than 1000, with civilians included in the grim tally.
Ukraine’s allies have vowed to provide weapons and supply troops to assist in the defence of the nation.
