Melbourne, Jan 15: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday his government will take the “strongest action possible” if Russia has harmed an Australian who was taken prisoner while fighting for Ukraine.
Video posted on social media in December showed Oscar Jenkins, 32, dressed in a military uniform with his hands bound being questioned and struck by a Russian interrogator.
Australian authorities were seeking comment from Russia on reports that the Melbourne school teacher had been killed since he became a prisoner of war.
Albanese said Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials were seeking “urgent clarification” of Jenkins’ circumstances.
“We call upon Russia to immediately confirm Oscar Jenkins’ status. We remain gravely concerned,” Albanese told reporters.
“We will await the facts to come out. But if there has been any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins, that is absolutely reprehensible. And the Australian government will take the strongest action possible,” Albanese added.
Jenkins had no previous military experience before joining the Ukraine defense forces early last year. While other Australians have been killed in combat in Ukraine, none has died in Russian captivity.
Albanese did not elaborate on what action Australia might take if Jenkins has died.
Monash University political scientist Zareh Ghazarian said the maximum extent of Australia’s response was likely to be expelling Russia’s ambassador, withdrawing the Australian ambassador from Moscow and imposing additional sanctions against Russia.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who could become prime minister in elections due by May 17, said the Russian and Australian ambassadors should be sent home if the Russians killed Jenkins.
“If there is confirmation that Oscar Jenkins has been killed, the government should take the strongest possible action and that is the ambassador should be withdrawn and that the ambassador here in Australia should be sent packing,” Dutton told reporters.
“We should send a very clear message to Russia and to other similarly minded regimes that Australians are sacrosanct, that they deserve to be protected by their government and if they’re harmed in this way and if they’re brutally executed, as seems to be the suggestion in this case, and we wait for confirmation, then there should be a strong reaction from the prime minister,” Dutton added.
Australia’s military involvement in Ukraine has involved training missions, but no Australian combat troops have been involved in the war.
Australia has been one of the most generous donors to the Ukraine war effort outside NATO.
Three months ago, Australia announced it will give Ukraine 49 of its aging M1A1 Abrams tanks valued at 245 million Australian dollars ($152 million).
The tanks brought the total value of Australia’s military assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion to over AU$1.3 billion ($804 million).
Australian officials questioned Russian Ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky about Jenkins in the Australian capital Canberra on Monday.
The Russian Embassy responded to a request for comment on Wednesday by referring The Associated Press to a press briefing given in Moscow by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Dec. 25.
Zakharova said the ministry was “checking information on the detained Australian citizen,” whom she described as a “mercenary.”
“We will certainly share any facts, if there are any,” Zakharova said.
“Regarding the current and overall situation, the captured foreign mercenaries will be called to account. We regularly inform you about the mercenaries’ crimes and their punishment in accordance with the Russian legislation, especially when they are involved in acts of atrocity against civilians,” she added.(AP)
