Australia will use a global ministerial summit to make clear its displeasure with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, the foreign minister says.
Penny Wong will come face-to-face with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday for the first time since the invasion in February.
Senator Wong is attending a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali this week, and the talks are expected to be overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and Mr Lavrov’s presence.
Russia chose to “denigrate” international relations and multilateralism by invading Ukraine, Senator Wong said.
“If you want an example of a nation which has demonstrated its willingness, its disregard for the need for food security for a world recovering from a pandemic, it is Russia,” she told reporters in Bali on Thursday.
“It is Russia in its persistent refusal to comply with the UN charter and international law, and its illegal, immoral invasion of Ukraine.
“We will be making very clear collectively our views about Russia’s position and behaviour.”
Senator Wong said multilateralism and addressing food and energy security will be the main themes of the foreign ministers’ meeting.
She also welcomed the attendance of Ukraine’s foreign minister at the G20, calling it an “important moment” for world leaders to hear about the consequences of the invasion.
Her comments came as Russia’s ambassador to Australia said the relationship between the two countries had reached its lowest point in decades because of the government’s support of Ukraine.
“Whatever co-operation we had has been destroyed by the Australian side without really giving much thought to what Australia’s interests were,” Russian ambassador Aleksey Pavlovsky told ABC radio on Thursday.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has used a foreign policy speech in Australia to call for reform to the United Nations after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Ms Ardern said the global body needed to be improved so Russia could be further held to account for its military action.
“We must reform the United Nations so that we don’t have to rely on individual countries imposing their own autonomous sanctions,” she said on Thursday.
“We must also resource the International Criminal Court to undertake full investigations and prosecution of the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine.”
New Zealand is set to be a third party in Ukraine’s case against Russia in the International Court of Justice following this year’s invasion.
Ms Ardern identified the UN’s failure to act on the conflict due to Russia’s position in the body’s security council, describing it as a morally bankrupt position.
“Under these circumstances, waiting for our multilateral institutions to act was not an option for New Zealand,” she said.
Ms Ardern said diplomacy needed to be the strongest tool to de-escalate tensions in the region, saying the conflict shouldn’t be characterised as a war of the West against Russia.
“We must not allow the risk of a self-fulfilling prophecy to become an inevitable outcome for our region,” she said.
Ms Ardern is on an Australian visit aimed at strengthening trade and security ties.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the Ukraine’s capital Kyiv this week to express Australia’s solidarity with the war-torn country.
By Andrew Brown and Maeve Bannister in Canberra, with ReutersÂ
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