Anthony Albanese call: expel Russian diplomats

Anthony Albanese has called on the Morrison government to expel all Russian diplomats from Australia over their country’s ‘sickening’ war crimes in Ukraine.

Russian ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has called on the Morrison government to expel all Russian diplomats from Australia over their country’s “sickening” war crimes in Ukraine.

Mr Albanese, who has until now backed the government’s handling of the Ukraine crisis, said it was time to act “in lock-step with European partners”, who expelled 206 Russian diplomats in recent days.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne has been repeatedly asked whether Russia’s ambassador, Alexey Pavlovsky, and his staff will be expelled, and declared on Monday his future was being kept “under review … at the highest levels of the government”.

But Mr Albanese said Russia must face diplomatic consequences in Australia for its atrocities in Ukraine, where hundreds of executed civilians have been discovered in recent days in the city of Bucha.

“It is hard to conceive how the decision can be made to allow these individuals to stay, given the sickening abuses being carried out by Russian forces,” Mr Albanese said.

“The mass killing of innocent civilians and the use of rape as a weapon of war can only be described as war crimes.

“Those responsible must be held to account – and in the first instance there must be immediate diplomatic consequences.”

European nations, including Germany, France, Italy and Lithuania, expelled dozens of Russian diplomats this week, amid growing evidence of Russian war crimes in Bucha and beyond.

However, Senator Payne said having Mr Pavlovsky in the country enabled the government to communicate its condemnation or Russian war crimes to him directly.

“The Russian ambassador was called into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade by our secretary again last week to ensure that we are able to say directly to Russia’s representative that their actions are unacceptable, that they are in breach of international law,” she told Nine’s Today show.