Australia has received a warning from Russia, following talks about sending troops to Ukraine in a peacekeeping mission labelled “unacceptable” by Russia.
The statement came from the Russian embassy in Canberra after Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed he had had further talks with British PM Keir Starmer about a coalition of peacekeeping troops being sent to Ukraine.
This comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Saudi Arabia today for peace talks with the U.S.
First reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, the Russian statement reads; “For Australia joining the so-called coalition of the willing would entail grave consequences.”
“Once again, Western boots on the ground are unacceptable for Russia, and we will not remain passive observers. To those inclined to construe the above as a threat: it is not; it is a warning… Russia has no intention to harm Australians, and Canberra can easily avoid trouble by simply refraining from irresponsible adventurism in the zone of the special military operation.”
Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine's ambassador in Australia, called for the warning to be ignored, calling it an empty threat.
“Russia is a rogue state and they simply want everybody to give up on helping Ukraine,” he said.
However, Federal Foreign Minister Penny Wong has hit back already, saying Australia “won’t be intimidated from working towards a just peace for the people of Ukraine” and for Russia to end it's "illegal invasion of Ukraine".
Last week, Albanese confirmed Australia had not been formally asked to contribute troops to the proposed peacekeeping “coalition of the willing”, an idea first put forward by Starmer.
“We haven’t been asked for anything,” he said. “There are proposals being discussed. If a request is made, we would give consideration to it.”
