SYDNEY, March 6. /TASS/. A rally supporting Russia was held in Sydney, Australia’s largest city. According to a TASS correspondent, the rally held near the building of Russia’s Consulate General was attended not only by ethnic Russians but also by the representatives of other diasporas, including Ukrainians.
The rally’s participants asserted their support for Russia and the people of Donbass as well as for Russia’s efforts on the denazification of Ukraine. They held Russian, Australian and Serbian flags as well as Putin’s portraits and banners with slogans against NATO’s presence near Russian borders.
As Ksenia Trifonova, one of the rally’s organizers, told TASS, not only its participants wanted to express their solidarity with their homeland but also to urge Australia’s authorities to protect its Russian residents. "Many ethnic Russians live in this hospitable multicultural country, the majority of them are Australian citizens and we believe that there will be no place here for what is going in some other countries as we learned from the news, that we won’t see here threats and harassment on ethnic grounds," she said, stressing that "it is very important to retain the operation of Russian media in foreign countries in order for people to see and hear another opinion on what is going on, this will help them understand Russians, understand our point of view."
The rally near the Russian Consulate General in Sydney lasted over two hours despite pouring rain. The rally was patrolled by the New South Wales police force and several units of Australia’s Federal Police. According to them, no incidents have been registered during the rally.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Following this, the US, the EU, the UK and a number of other countries, including Australia, announced the introduction of sanctions against Russian legal entities and private individuals.