Russia has banned 228 Australian politicians and officials from entering the country, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Anthony Albanese, in response to Canberra’s sanctions against Moscow.

The Russian government said it had imposed entry bans on 228 Australian government members and lawmakers as retaliation for Canberra’s “unfriendly actions” including the suite of sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has imposed an entry ban on Scott Morrison.Credit:The Age

The ban was imposed on the same day Australia sent Ukraine 20 Bushmaster armoured vehicles, which were flown out of Brisbane for Europe on Friday and worth a total of $50 million.

Australia is also close to deciding whether to expel Russian diplomats from Canberra in response to the latest atrocities in Ukraine.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said its “stop list” of persons denied entry to its country includes members of the national security committee of cabinet, House of Representatives, the Senate and regional administrations.

All members of Australia’s Federal Parliament are on the list including Mr Morrison and Mr Albanese.

The late Labor senator Kimberley Kitching is included on the banned list. Senator Kitching was instrumental in Australia adopting its own Magnitsky Act, which made it easier to sanction corrupt Russian officials and human rights abusers.

The list also includes Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy and state Labor MP Steve Dimopoulos, but not any state premiers.

“This step was taken in response to the unfriendly actions of the current Australian government, which is ready to support any actions aimed at containing Russia,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Russia said it would expand its “blacklist” to also include Australian military, businessmen, experts and journalists who had contributed to “inciting a negative attitude towards our country”.

“Every anti-Russian step – from the introduction of new personal sanctions to the restriction of bilateral economic relations, which harms the interests of the Australians themselves – will be resolutely rebuffed,” the statement said.

A separate entry ban list was also issued for a number of New Zealand politicians over “hostile actions” including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Australia has already imposed sanctions on dozens of Russia’s officials, oligarchs and financial institutions in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Australia is in close contact with the other Five Eyes countries and plans to move in lockstep with them on the expulsion of any diplomats.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has so far advised the government not to expel Russian diplomats on the basis that it would almost certainly result in the closure of Australia’s Moscow embassy and put Australians living in Russia at risk.

In a joint press conference with Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Australia’s contribution of the 20 Bushmaster armoured vehicles would be a “very crucial element” in keeping Ukrainian troops safe.

“Ideally we would have trainers there and we’d go through a program with the Ukrainian forces, but that’s not possible during the conflict,” Mr Dutton said.

Mr Myroshnychenko said it was a “very strong sign of support” but Ukraine needed even more help.

“And the reason is very simple; Ukraine cannot change its geography. We are always going to have Russia next door,” he said.

“We now of course have to protect our integrity and sovereignty, so we need to keep them out of Ukraine, but to move forward, we really need to have very strong and capable military forces to be able to defend ourselves in the future.”

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