SYDNEY, February 28. /TASS/. The Australian authorities have imposed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of top government officials, the country’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement on Monday.
"From midnight last night, Australian targeted financial sanctions and travel bans came into effect on the Russian president and remaining permanent members of Russia’s Security Council: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev," the statement reads.
According to the document, "Australia will work with NATO and our other partners to provide lethal as well as non-lethal military equipment, medical supplies, and financial assistance to support the people of Ukraine" and "impose further economic sanctions on Russia." "So far Australia has sanctioned more than 350 Russian individuals, including corrupt oligarchs, MPs, and military commanders who are facilitating Putin’s illegal and violent ambitions. Moreover, we have sanctioned 13 Belarusian individuals and entities, including Belarusian Minister of Defense Viktor Khrenin, who has aided and abetted Putin’s aggression by allowing Russia to launch attacks from Belarus," the statement added.
According to earlier reports, Australia joined sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and the goal was to demilitarize and denazify the country. Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later that the Russian Armed Forces were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. The ministry emphasized that the Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed by precision weapons and there was no threat to civilians.