The Australian government has slapped sanctions on two Russian oligarchs with business interests in Australia, after initially leaving them off of Australia's official sanctions list.
Oleg Deripaska is the president of Russian aluminium company Rusal, which has a 20 per cent share in the Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) refinery in Gladstone.
Viktor Vekselberg has interests in a company working with Origin Energy to frack the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory.
Both have been added to Australia's official sanctions list along with 20 Russian businesses, as part of the federal government's response to the invasion of Ukraine.
They had already been sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom.
In the UK overnight, Mr Deripaska's multi-million-dollar mansion was briefly occupied by a group of squatters who said they were reclaiming the property to house Ukrainian refugees.
Mr Deripaska is a billionaire who made his fortune during the violent power struggle to take over Russia’s lucrative aluminium industry in the 1990s.
He has been accused of organising the murder of a rival, bribing an official and having Russian mafia links, with US Treasury accusing him of laundering money and holding assets for Vladimir Putin.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne rejected allegations the government was too slow to target the two Russian businessmen.
"There is no delay," Senator Payne said.
"One of the individuals sanctioned [by the international community] on the 15th of March, I have sanctioned on the 17th of March.
"I think Australians would expect that their government would want the due diligence done on sanctions processes, no matter where they apply to make sure that we are addressing all those issues."
According to the US government, Mr Vekselberg has a net worth of more than $6 billion.
His companies span multiple sectors in Russia and around the world.
But it is his close ties to Mr Putin and other senior Russian politicians that have seen him added to international, and now Australia's, sanctions list.
Impact of sanctions on workers
Earlier this week, Rio Tinto, which owns the remaining 80 per cent of Queensland Alumina Refinery, said it was monitoring the situation in Ukraine and potential sanctions against Mr Deripaska.
"We are confident that we have appropriate structures in place to ensure QAL's operations will not be disrupted," it said.
"'Rio Tinto is in the process of terminating all commercial relationships it has with any Russian business.
"We are working to ensure the business continues to operate as a significant employer and contributor to the local Gladstone community and Queensland economy."
Volodymyr Shalkivskiy, the head Ukraine’s diplomatic mission in Australia, called for the sanctions earlier this week.
"In Ukraine, it’s a matter of death and life for us, so we will continue to push for imposing harsh economic sanctions against Russia," Mr Shalkivskiy told the ABC.
"Aluminium is used for the aircraft production and military jet production so it is important for us to have solidarity among our partners."
Earlier this week, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews flagged possible sanctions while being mindful of the economic impact.
"Queensland alumina is very important to the Gladstone economy, it's a very large employer in that town," Ms Andrews told Sky earlier this week.
"We will be mindful of that but there is the bigger picture that we need to mindful of as well.
"If we need to continue to put those in place and more individuals are needed to have sanctions against them, then we will take action against them."
