Latvia is calling on Australia to support designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism amid concern about ongoing war crimes in Ukraine.
The Latvian foreign minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs, met with the Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, on Monday, outlining his concerns about Russia’s aggression while urging the west to boost military support.
Rinkēvičs, who is in Australia to open Latvia’s first embassy in Canberra, said he believed the sanction was necessary given the ongoing atrocities committed in Ukraine. He said he would be calling on the European Union to also support the designation.
The proposal would result in a complete ban on visas for Russian citizens and the confiscation of Russian government assets, and would also make it easier to put in place a process for war crime proceedings against officials who were directly responsible for committing atrocities in Ukraine.
“We have an international criminal court, we have the international court of justice, but the crime of aggression actually does not fall under the responsibility of those courts. So we need to address those things, we need to address the war crimes and genocide that is being committed by Russians against Ukraine,” he said.
Rinkēvičs said he had raised Latvia’s position in his meeting with Wong, and would continue to make the case, which is also being pushed by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Wong said the meeting had emphasised the Australian government’s commitment to holding Russia to account for “its illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine”.
Speaking to students at the Australian National University last week, Zelenskiy said the world had to “make its choice” to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.
“The difference between a terrorist and Russia is that terrorists hold themselves accountable for their actions and Russia cannot do even that and tries to accuse other people for their atrocities,” he said.
Zelenskiy decried “hundreds, thousands of military crimes” and Russian atrocities in the illegal invasion of Ukraine. These included “mass execution of a peaceful population, handcuffing people, put them on their knees, kill them with a shot on their back; and [raping] them in front of the eyes of their own children”.
Rinkēvičs said while the US had a legal framework for recognising state-sponsored terrorism, the European Union did not, and he believed this was necessary.
The Australian government can list an organisation as a terrorist organisation if it is satisfied it is engaged in preparing, planning, assisting or fostering the doing of a terrorist act, however it is unclear how this relates to other governments.
Rinkēvičs said he and Wong had agreed on the “necessity to continue to support Ukraine in any way we can”.
“The western world must increase military assistance because, as we see unfortunately, Russia is continuing its aggression.”
