About 200 members of Sydney's Ukrainian community have staged a loud protests outside a Russian embassy, calling on Russia's president to "keep his hands" off the troubled European country.
Ukranian, Georgian and European Union flags were waived as the eclectic crowd yelled at the Russian embassy for President Vladimir Putin to "get out" and "keep his hands off Ukraine" on Monday evening.
Banners depicting the ex-KGB hard man with Adolf Hitler's hair and moustache were shaken angrily at the Woolhara unit housing the Russian embassy, after prayers and songs of national pride.
Protester Yuri Mencinsky, who was involved at demonstrations outside the same embassy 40 years ago, told reporters the crowd was shouting "kacapy" - a derogatory Ukranian term for Russians.
Peter Shmigel, the public affairs director for the Australia Federation of Ukrainian Organisations said the international community needed to act, not just talk.
"Action like removal of Russia from the G8 so that it feels the economic consequences of breaking international law," he told reporters at the protest.
"Why should Russian be at the international table if it's operating in an outlaw manner?"
He added that Ukraine was a untied country and that there was no divide between Russian and Ukrainian speaking-citizens.
"That's a mythology," he said.
"Ukraine has been independent for 20 years. During that time there have been virtually no recorded instances of internecine violence between Russian communities and Ukrainian communities."
Russia's annexation of Georgian land in 2008, he added, should serve as a strong warning.
"Mr Putin looks at the world differently than the world looks at him," he said.
"We look at him as a political leader. He looks at us through the lens of a former colonel of the KGB, someone who swore an oath to uphold the USSR."
The protesters said further actions were planned outside the Russian embassy in Canberra.
