Red mark from Russia is no laughing matter
RUSSIA’S ban on Australian military chiefs, academics and journalists was met largely with bemusement but also fears that the list would make them targets for cyber hackers and fringe conspiracy groups.
But the actions will not silence critics of President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin over their brutal assault on Ukraine, which has cost tens of thousands of lives.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced it was expanding sanctions against 121 individuals including the edi
tors of most of the major metropolitan newspapers, chiefs of the Australian Defence Force, business leaders and leading commentators and academics.
The ministry said the move was in retaliation to sanctions Australia had placed on its citizens and was aimed at those individuals “forming a Russophobic agenda in this country”.
“The entry to the Russian Federation is closed indefinitely for these persons,” the ministry stated.
Those on the list, thought to have been compiled by the Russian embassy in Canberra, are blocked from travel to the country and possibly business dealings – but some fear there is a more sinister threat.
Author and academic Dr John Blaxland, who is one of those named, said the flippancy about the list was understandable but “the prospect of some kind of cyber targeting” was a consideration.
“We live in an open society, we haven’t felt the need to hide or be retiring in our identity or profile so there is a degree of vulnerability that is exploitable,” he said.
“So while we laugh it off to a certain extent I am nonetheless uneasy about ramifications.”
He said the list was a reaction to the sanctions that Australia had imposed on some of the key members of the Russian kleptocracy and, given there was not much trade to block, a list was the only thing they could do publicly as a “slap in the face”.
Also on the list is South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, who said his Lithuanian background meant he and his family knew only too well about Russian aggression.
“I am very grateful for the fact that Vladimir Putin has paid attention to the leading role that South Australia is playing for standing up for the democratic values that we collectively as a country hold dear,” he said.