Russian diplomat refuses to leave plot of land in Australia where Russia planned to build embassy

Australia earlier terminated the lease agreement

A Russian diplomat is squatting on a plot of land which was originally meant as the construction site for a new Russian embassy building in Australia, Bloomberg and Sky News report.

UPDATE
The Russian embassy has confirmed that its staffers are stationed at the planned embassy construction site, TASS reports. It is claimed that the reports of squatting are inaccurate because the diplomats are only there “to ensure security of the consular department building, which is already constructed and almost ready for use, as well as the construction materials”. The embassy staffers are staying in a construction trailer which has been there since the world began.

“The reports that the Australian police was trying to somehow chase them out of the site are not true, just like the reports that the plot of land was seized,” the embassy noted.

An unidentified Russian diplomat has been living in a mobile building placed on the piece of land that was previously owned by Moscow. According to Australian media outlets, he has been ordering food deliveries to the location. The police cannot evict him because he enjoys diplomatic immunity.

“The national security threat that was represented by a Russian embassy on-site is not the same as some bloke standing on a blade of grass. We don’t see it as a threat to our national security,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

The Australian leader noted that the diplomat could be declared persona non grata if need be to force Russia to recall him back to Moscow. If Russia refuses to do so, Canberra will retract the squatter’s diplomatic status.

In June, the Australian authorities terminated the lease agreement, granting Russia the plot of land for a new embassy building in Canberra.

The move came after the national government received recommendations from its security services, particularly relating to “to the risk presented by a new Russian presence, and so close to Parliament House”.