Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the failed coup in Russia is a direct consequence of President Vladimir Putin’s disastrous decision to invade Ukraine.
Russian mercenaries, led by former Putin ally and Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, came within 200km of the capital Moscow and captured the city of Rostov, where Russian generals are overseeing the war against Ukraine.
But the coup was put off following intervention by Belarus, which brokered a deal with Mr Putin’s approval to halt the advance of Wagner troops on Moscow in return for guarantees of their safety.
Albanese said it was unlikely the situation in Russia had been resolved.
“Quite clearly, you can’t have events like that and just wipe them out, pretend that you'll go back to stability,” he told ABC TV on Monday.
“What’s very clear to me is that the Russian illegal invasion of Ukraine has been a disaster for the people of Ukraine most importantly, but it’s also been a disaster for the people of Russia.”
Albanese said he received multiple briefings over the weekend on the international events.
“(The war in Ukraine) has been a disaster for Mr Putin. He overplayed his hand, and he got it wrong, and some of the consequences of that, I think, we saw playing out on the weekend,” he said.
“The best thing that Mr Putin can do is just to withdraw from this illegal invasion, retreat back behind his own borders, and that would be a good thing for international law if that occurred.”
Prigozhin announced his “march for justice” to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders he blamed for botching the war with Ukraine after Russia invaded last year.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Prigozhin would move to Belarus under the deal, but the situation remains unstable and is being closely watched by the US, France, Germany and Britain and their allies.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Australians in Russia to leave immediately due to the deteriorating security situation.
