Sydney, Australia MOSCOW, 25 Feb. Australia, following the US, Canada, the EU, will expand sanctions against Russia, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on 7News on Friday. against more than 300 members of the Russian Duma, parliament, who voted for the use of military forces in Ukraine,» the prime minister said. Morrison added that he intends to agree on sanctions in the United States against citizens of Belarus «involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.» «I would like to confirm that we are working with NATO to secure (delivery of) non-lethal military equipment and medical supplies to the people of Ukraine,» the politician added. Earlier, Australia announced sanctions and a ban on crossing the border against eight members of the Russian Security Council, Australian companies cannot deal with five Russian banks in addition to restrictions on investment in VEB. Later, the country included 25 more Russian citizens, including military leaders and deputy defense ministers, on the sanctions list. On Thursday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided on a special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to the Russians, he said that the circumstances «require decisive and immediate action from us, the people's republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.» According to the Russian leader, the entire responsibility for the bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine. He urged the Ukrainian military not to follow the criminal orders of the Ukrainian authorities, lay down their arms and go home. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the Russian Armed Forces do not launch any missile, air or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine: military infrastructure, air defense facilities are disabled by high-precision weapons , military airfields and aviation. The ministry assured that the civilian population was not in danger. Approximately two hours later, the Ministry of Defense added that the Ukrainian border guards «do not offer any resistance», Ukrainian air defense systems were suppressed, and the military infrastructure of military air bases was disabled. The military department denied the information of foreign media about the alleged downing of a Russian plane over Ukraine in the military department.
