Australia says it is "gravely concerned" after Ukraine accused Russia of detaining one of its Antarctic scientists over alleged security concerns, preventing him from attending a conference in Hobart

The annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Species (CCAMLR) began on Monday, bringing together delegates from more than two dozen countries.

But Ukraine's ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, told the meeting one of his delegation's leading scientists had been unable to travel to the Tasmanian capital.

"It is … with profound shock that Ukraine learned of the imprisonment of a distinguished Ukrainian scientist, Leonid Pshenichnov, by Russian authorities in the occupied territory of Crimea," Mr Myroshnychenko told delegates.

"Mr Pshenichnov

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