A man allegedly believed to be an employee of the Russian diplomatic mission has arbitrarily moved to land where a new Russian embassy building in Canberra was previously planned. Earlier, the Australian government vetoed the construction on security grounds and passed a law that Moscow will challenge in Australia’s highest court.
On Friday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said ‘a guy frozen on a patch of grass in Canberra poses no threat to our national security’, adding that ‘Australia will defend our values and we will defend our national security’ . ”
Last week, the Australian parliament passed a law blocking the Russian government from leasing vacant land on security grounds: the new embassy building, if built, would be too close to the parliament building.
The mysterious ‘squatter’ (a term applied to people who occupy unoccupied spaces or empty buildings without owning them) took up residence on land previously leased by Moscow in Canberra’s Yarralumla diplomatic quarter, setting up a mobile home there on Sunday last .
The Russian Embassy declined to comment on media reports that the man who moved to the territory leased by Moscow is a Russian diplomat. The embassy also declined to comment on the fact that the man was on the ground. An email received by The Associated Press states that “the Embassy is not commenting on this.”
Prime Minister Albanese said the problem would be “solved”, but did not explain exactly how it would be done.
Russia then informed the Australian government that Moscow intended to challenge the termination of the lease in the High Court on constitutional grounds, the Australian government said in a statement.
“Russia’s challenge to the current law is not unexpected,” the government said in a statement. “It’s part of the Russian manual.”
According to the Australian government, hearings in the trial will take place on Monday.
Don Rothwell, an international law expert from the Australian National University, said the occupation of the site gives Russia no advantage in a legal challenge to the eviction.
“What they are doing is diplomatic civil disobedience in terms of expressing their displeasure with the actions of the Australian government,” Rothwell said.
According to him, Russia is likely to question the authority of the Australian government, which overturned the decision of the municipality of Canberra to enter into a lease with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yet these powers are indisputable, says the expert.
According to Rothwell, the only potentially successful lawsuit could be brought by Moscow over the amount of compensation Australia is offering for money Russia has already spent on construction and land works.
Russia says it has spent $5.5 million on the site since signing the lease in 2008. Since then, a fence has been erected around the area where the multi-building complex was to be built.
If the “squatter” is a diplomat, then if he is detained by the police, he will be immediately released due to his diplomatic immunity. The Australian government can declare that person persona non grata, which means waiver of immunity. These people usually have 48 hours to leave Australia. Otherwise, they can be stopped.
According to Rothwell, in this case, Russia can send another diplomat to replace him.
“That’s the scenario I think the government is trying to avoid,” the expert said.
Albanian did not directly respond to questions about whether the government was considering stripping the man of his diplomatic status.
At the same time, the Prime Minister stressed that he was not worried about the Russian trial.
“In fact, we support the law. Lately, Russia hasn’t been very good with the law,” Albanese said, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Australian Federal Police declined to answer why the man was not deported for trespassing.
Russia last week accused Australia of “Russophobic hysteria” over the cancellation of the lease, which followed the deterioration of relations between the two countries since the start of the war in Ukraine last year. .
In February, it was learned that Canberra had expelled Russian diplomats from the country, who were in fact members of the security services. The Sydney Morning Herald, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, said the spy ring included officials from embassies and consulates and other undercover agents.
The Australian Security and Intelligence Organization had reported a few days earlier that “a major spy ring had been uncovered and eliminated”. The ministry did not name the country behind the operation of this network.
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