Diplomatic pressure grows over ‘dead’ Aussie Oscar Jenkins

A bipartisan commitment to the ‘strongest possible action’ against Russia should it be found to have executed Oscar Jenkins raises questions of how to punish authoritarian regimes on a tense global stage.

Oscar Jenkins is interrogated by Russian fighters after being captured in Donbas. Picture: Telegram

The Albanese government is under mounting pressure to expel the Russian ambassador if Melbourne man Oscar Jenkins is confirmed to have been executed by Russian forces in Ukraine, a move unprecedented in Australia’s post-war diplomatic history.

Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese on Wednesday jointly threatened the “strongest possible action” against the Kremlin, as Foreign Minister Penny Wong asserted that “all options are on the table” if Australia is forced to take retribution for Mr Jenkins’ death.

However, Labor has avoided specifics on such a response.

Speaking at a press conference in Tasmania, the Prime Minister did not rule out the expulsion of Russian Ambassador to Australia Aleksey Pavlovsky.

“If there has been any harm caused that is absolutely reprehensible and the Australian government will take the strongest action possible,” Mr Albanese said.

“I spoke with the Ukrainian ambassador on Monday in my office. We call upon Russia to immediately confirm Oscar Jenkins’ status, we remain gravely concerned. We will await the facts to come out.”

The opposition leader, speaking at a press conference in Victoria, drove calls for expulsion, saying the government must send “a clear message to Russia that Australians are sacrosanct, they deserve to be protected by their government and if they are harmed in this way and brutally executed as seems to be the suggestion in this case … there should be a strong reaction.”

“If it is the case that this Australian has been killed then Australia should respond in the strongest possible terms and that is our bipartisan position I’m sure,” Mr Dutton said.

Anthony Albanese in Hobart. Picture: NewsWire / Eddie Safarik

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham argued Labor had appealed for similar measures when it was in opposition under Mr Albanese.

In April 2022 Mr Albanese called on the Morrison government to expel Russian diplomats from Australia in response to atrocities by Russian forces in Ukraine but stopped short of demanding the departure of the ambassador. EU countries, including France, Germany and Italy expelled more than 200 Russian diplomats, though allowing ambassadors to remain.

Two Russian diplomats were expelled by the Turnbull government in 2018 over the Novichok nerve agent attack against former double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in the UK, and in 2010 an Israeli diplomat was expelled over the misuse of Australian passports in the assassination of a Hamas member in Dublin.

Any expulsion of Russian diplomats would likely lead to a tit-for-tat expulsion of Australian diplomats from Moscow. The expulsion of the ambassador would potentially spark a major diplomatic rift.

Australian National University international law professor Donald Rothwell said Senator Wong had hinted at her reluctance to cut ties over the dispute.

“The government would be very mindful that the Australian-Russian relationship cannot be defined just by one particular incident involving Oscar Jenkins,” he said. “The Foreign Minister also acknowledged that Australia has a range of engagements at the moment with Russia, including the ongoing legal action with respect to the downing of MH17.”

Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Alex Bristow argued severing diplomatic ties could create poor precedent in negotiating with other authoritarian regimes.

“The relationship has been through some pretty heavy knocks in recent years, and that action (ambassadorial expulsion) hasn’t been taken. Australia has always made the choice to retain diplomatic channels and seen that as more valuable than cutting them off,” Dr Bristow said.

“It sets a tricky precedent if they do expel the ambassador, because you do have Australians at risk of execution in other places around the world, where the Australian government maintains that they’re wrongfully detained.

“So the clearest example right now would be Yang Hengjun in China, who’s on a death sentence for espionage charges.

“Responding to Russia is a bit more of a free kick than responding to other countries that coerce Australia. If China executed Yang … would we be asking the same questions? Would you expect them to expel the Chinese ambassador?”

The capture of Mr Jenkins during his service to the Ukrainian Foreign Legion has threatened to further strain Russo-Australian relations during an enduring ebb, prompting insults of “obedience” to the “collective West” from Russian diplomats.

ASPI senior analyst Alex Bristow.

Dr Bristow said an aggressive response by Australia towards Russia could complicate a ceasefire as the incoming Trump administration worked to bring Kyiv and the Kremlin to the bargaining table.

“One thing they could do is to ask a range of countries to retaliate in solidarity with Australia. The Brits did that with the Salisbury chemical weapon attacks and the Australians were part of a consortium of countries … which did expel Russian diplomats,” he said. “That is going to be harder under a Trump administration, because he’s not going to be wanting to expel Russian diplomats at the same time as he’s trying to push through a peace agreement.”

Senator Birmingham urged greater support by the Australian government for Ukrainian forces.

In September a senate standing committee on Australian support for Ukraine recommended measures to accelerate and legislate means of supporting the war effort, while in November the defence subcommittee of the joint standing committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade completed its inquiry into the Department of Defence Annual Report 2022-23 and presented similar outcomes.

Both reports, which await response from the government, recommend the development of an authority spanning foreign affairs, defence and relevant portfolios to handle aid delivery and suggest all retired military equipment should be handed on to the frontline.

Senator Birmingham said the Coalition would “act true” to the report’s recommendations if elected. “If the tragic news of Mr Jenkins’ execution is verified then the Albanese government should immediately confirm what steps it is taking in response and act swiftly on Mr Albanese’s claim that all options are on the table,” Senator Birmingham told The Australian. “Too often this Labor government’s support for Ukraine has been lacking or come too late.

“Whether it is ignoring requests for specific military equipment, burying decommissioned army helicopters, delaying responses to requests for Australian coal, or taking two years longer than every other counterpart to re-open our embassy in Ukraine, Labor appears to have acted with reluctance rather than proactively doing the right thing.”

Ukrainian and Australian diplomats on Wednesday were making urgent inquiries after reports that Mr Jenkins, 32, who attended Melbourne Grammar, had died, just weeks after he was captured by Russian forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

Mr Jenkins had been classified as a prisoner of war in diplomatic negotiations with his Russian captors, but Mr Pavlovsky was called in by Senator Wong on Monday to remind Russia of his rights under the Geneva Convention. It was the second time the Russian ambassador has been hauled before DFAT over the capture of Mr Jenkins.

He is the first Australian combatant captured by Russian forces in Ukraine.

If confirmed dead, he would also be the first Australian killed in Russian captivity since the conflict began.

Six other Australians have died on the front lines.