Defensive Materiel, Humanitarian Assistance and Additional Sanctions
The Australian government announced a set of additional support measures for Ukraine on 20 March, accompanied by further punitive actions against Russia to help ensure Moscow “pays a high price for its blatant violation of the UN Charter and its disregard for international humanitarian law”.
Canberra stated it has put together an additional A$21 million ($15.5 million) package of defensive military support for the Ukrainian armed forces, pointing out that this will bring Australia’s total military assistance so far to A$91 million. “To meet Ukrainian priority requests, this package will comprise additional material from Australian Defence Force stocks,” said the government, adding that it has also committed an additional A$30 million in emergency humanitarian assistance. This contribution will focus on protecting women, children, the elderly and the disabled, and take the total to A$65 million, it noted.
Meanwhile, Canberra said it has imposed an immediate ban on Australian exports of alumina and aluminium ores (including bauxite) to Russia, to limit the latter’s capacity to produce aluminium – a critical export for Russia. Aluminium is a global input across the auto, aerospace, packaging, machinery and construction sectors, and a critical input into the defence industries, with Russia relying on Australia for nearly 20% of its alumina needs, according to DoD.
Canberra also said it has imposed a total of 476 sanctions on 443 individuals, including many oligarchs close to Putin, and 33 entities, including most of Russia’s banking sector and all entities responsible for Russia’s sovereign debt.
Gabriel Dominguez in Singapore for MON
