Melbourne councillors have voted to suspend the city's sister city relationship with St Petersburg over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Councillors were unanimously in favour of the motion put by Lord Mayor Sally Capp at a meeting on Tuesday night.
She told the meeting there was no justification for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and its acts of violence and war were illegal and unprovoked.
"This current action by Russia has prompted us to use this one lever within our control," she told the meeting.
But Councillor Philip Le Liu, who ultimately voted in favour of the motion, said he found it hard to make up his mind, as he did not want "to put a blanket generalisation of guilt over St Petersburg and it people."
"In no part is this condemning the people of St Petersburg," he said.
Melbourne and St Petersburg established the partnership in 1989, when the Russian city was still known as Leningrad and before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Deputy Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece pointed out that Vladimir Putin had worked directly on the sister city relationship with Melbourne, in a former job in external affairs with St Petersburg's local government.
He also suggested people in Melbourne consider a boycott of Russian products including caviar and vodka.
Melbourne's other sister cities include Japan's Osaka, China's Tianjin, Greece's Thessaloniki, United States' Boston and Italy's Milan.
Australian Associated Press
