Australia condemns Russia's jailing of Melbourne man caught in Ukraine
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of Australia Penny Wong addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Kent J. Edwards/File Photo
Australia's foreign minister on Saturday condemned a 13-year prison sentence handed by a Russian court to an Australian citizen for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.
Oscar Jenkins, 33, will serve the sentence in a maximum security prison after being found guilty by a Russian court of participating in an armed conflict as a mercenary, state prosecutors in a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia said on Friday.
Foreign minister Penny Wong said in a statement that Australia's government was "appalled at the sham trial and 13-year sentence" given to Jenkins, previously a teacher in Melbourne.
"As a full serving member of the regular Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mr Jenkins is a prisoner of war," said Wong, a long-time strident critic of Russia's war against Ukraine.
"The Australian Government has made clear to Russia that Mr Jenkins must be given the protections afforded to him as a prisoner of war. Russia is obligated to treat him in accordance with international humanitarian law, including humane treatment," the foreign minister said.
She said Australia's government would work with Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross to push for Jenkins' welfare and release.
Jenkins was serving with Ukraine's military when he was captured by Russia last year as a prisoner of war, Australian media reported earlier this year. A video taken at the time showed him, dressed in combat uniform, being asked if he was a mercenary, reports said.
Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the West's support for Ukraine and has been supplying aid, ammunition and defence equipment.
It has banned exports of alumina and aluminium ores, including bauxite, to Russia, and has sanctioned about 1,000 Russian individuals and entities. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
42 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Ukraine drones attack on Moscow forces airport closure, Russia says
A Ukrainian drone attack targeting Moscow forced the closure of two of the key airports serving the capital, Russian authorities said early on Sunday. Russia air defence units destroyed nine Ukrainian drones heading towards Moscow by 0400 GMT, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app. Emergency services were dispatched to the sites where drone debris fell in the overnight attack, Sobyanin said. He did not report any immediate damage. A Ukrainian drone attack also sparked a short-lived fire at the Azot chemical plant in the Tula region, injuring two people, and seven drones were destroyed over the Kaluga region, regional governors said. Both regions border the Moscow region to the south of the capital. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said on Telegram that to ensure air safety it was halting flights at the Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports. Russia and Ukraine have increased their attacks in recent weeks while also returning to peace talks for the first time since the early days of the war that Russia launched against Ukraine in February 2022. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Money, mining and marine parks: The big issues at UN ocean summit
Fishermen separate freshly caught fish from plastic waste in a fishing net at a beach in Galle, Sri Lanka, in 2024. PHOTO: REUTERS NICE, France - France is hosting world leaders to confront what the United Nations calls a global 'emergency' in the oceans – but what is expected, and can the summit make a difference? There is pressure on the UN Ocean Conference starting June 9 in Nice to show that countries can unite and deliver more than just talk for the world's ailing and neglected seas. Here are some of the key issues. Plundered parks Several countries are expected to announce the creation of new marine conservation zones within their national waters, though how protected they really are will come under scrutiny. Some countries impose next to no rules on what is forbidden or permitted in marine zones. France and other EU states, for example, allow bottom trawling, a damaging fishing practice, in protected waters. This means just three per cent of oceans are considered truly safe from exploitation, far short of a global target to place 30 per cent under conservation by 2030. High seas Key to achieving this goal is enacting the high seas treaty, a landmark global pact signed in 2023 to protect marine life in the vast open waters beyond national control. France had pinned success at Nice on delivering the 60 ratifications necessary to bring the treaty into force, saying the conference would be a failure without it. But it could not get the required number, drumming up roughly half ahead of the summit. Those outstanding will be pushed to explain when they intend to do so. Uncharted waters France will be leading diplomatic efforts in Nice to rope more countries into supporting a moratorium on deep-sea mining, a contentious practice opposed by 33 nations so far. Bolstering those numbers would send a rebuke to US President Donald Trump, who wants to allow seabed mining in international waters despite concerns over how little is understood about life at these depths. But it would also carry weight ahead of a closely watched meeting in July of the International Seabed Authority, which is haggling over global rules to govern the nascent deep-sea mining sector. Actions not words At the summit's close, nations will adopt a pre-agreed political statement that recognises the crisis facing oceans, and the global need to better protect them. Critics slammed the language in the eight-page document as weak or – in the case of fossil fuels – missing altogether, but others cautioned against reading too much into it. 'The end declaration from here isn't really the only output. It's much more important, actually, what governments commit to, and what they come here to say on an individual basis,' said Peter Haugan, policy director at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. Money matters The conference is not a COP summit or a UN treaty negotiation, and any decisions made between June 9 and 13 in Nice are voluntary and not legally binding. But countries will still be expected to put money on the table in Nice to plug a massive shortfall in funding for ocean conservation, said Pauli Merriman at WWF International. 'What we lack – what we still lack – is the ambition, the financing and the delivery needed to close the gap,' she told reporters. 'It's not enough for governments to show up to Nice with good intentions.' AFP Find out more about climate change and how it could affect you on the ST microsite here.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
China vice-premier He Lifeng to meet US delegation for trade talks in London
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will visit the United Kingdom from June 8 to 13 at the invitation of the British government. PHOTO: REUTERS China vice-premier He Lifeng to meet US delegation for trade talks in London Beijing - Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng will meet a US delegation for talks next week in Britain, Beijing announced on June 7 amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He will visit the United Kingdom from June 8 to 13 at the invitation of the British government, China's foreign ministry said in a statement. It said Mr He and American representatives will co-chair the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism. US President Donald Trump had already announced on June 6 that a new round of trade talks with China would kick off in London beginning June 9, after he spoke by phone with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a bid to end a bitter battle over tariffs. Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would meet the Chinese team. The discussions will mark the second round of such negotiations between the world's two biggest economies since Mr Trump launched his trade war shortly after returning to the White House in January. A first meeting, held in mid-May in Geneva, brought a pause to the US-China trade dispute. But Mr Trump then accused Beijing of not respecting the terms of the de-escalation agreement. On June 5 the Republican president finally discussed the issues with Mr Xi for the first time since the trade tensions soared, assuring that the conversation had been positive. Mr Xi for his part told Mr Trump the two should 'correct the course' of bilateral relations, according to remarks quoted by official Chinese media. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
