Australia is a stable, democratic and culturally diverse nation with a highly skilled workforce and one of the strongest performing economies in the world.
The Australian Government is taking further action to increase the economic costs to Russia following its illegal invasion of Ukraine, supported by Belarus, by applying an additional tariff of 35 per cent for all imports from Russia and Belarus.
Australia will expand its support to Ukraine and impose further punitive actions on Russia in response to its unrelenting and illegal aggression against Ukraine. These additional measures will help ensure Russia pays a high price for its blatant violation of the UN Charter and its disregard for international humanitarian law.
The Australian Government is deeply concerned at Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, which is a gross violation of international law and the United Nations Charter. We will continue to coordinate closely with our partners – including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, NATO and the EU – to impose a high cost on Russia.
Australia is taking immediate action to sanction Russian individuals, organisations and banks as part of the international effort to impose a sharp cost on Russia for its unprovoked and unacceptable aggression against Ukraine.
The Australian Government joins the United States and the United Kingdom in publicly attributing the cyber attacks against the Ukrainian banking sector on 15 and 16 February 2022 to the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).
Given the deteriorating security situation caused by the build up of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border, the Government has directed the departure of staff at the Australian Embassy in Kyiv and temporarily suspended operations at our Embassy in Kyiv.
We, the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Ukraine, whose countries comprise the Joint Investigation Team, today mark the seventh anniversary of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
