Russian Diplomat Squatting on Australian Plot of Land

A Russian diplomat has been squatting near Australia's parliament in a row over the site where Russia wants to build its new embassy.  The lone protest follows Australia's decision to terminate Russia's 2008 lease, citing national security grounds.  Russia says it will challenge the lease termination in the High Court . Australia's prime minister says the squatting diplomat was no threat - he is "some bloke standing... on a bit of grass".

When announcing new laws aimed at terminating the lease, Anthony Albanese said intelligence agencies had given "very clear security advice".   The planned embassy would sit only 400 meters (a quarter mile) from the parliament building, which experts have said poses a spying risk. Russia's existing embassy is some distance away.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described the Australian decision as another example of "Russophobic hysteria that is now going on in the countries of the collective West".  It is unclear on what "constitutional grounds" Russia will challenge the laws, but it has sought an injunction to defer any moves to reclaim the site until the legal challenge is decided.   In the complaint submitted to the court, Russia says it has already spent over $5 million on construction, which has proceeded slowly.

Meanwhile Australian federal police are reportedly monitoring the man staking out the block of land, but cannot arrest him due to his diplomatic immunity.  Prime Minister Albanese said he was not worried about the squatter, or the legal challenge. "Russia hasn't been real good at the law lately," he said.  "We don't expect Russia is in a position to talk about international law given their rejection of it so consistently and so brazenly with their invasion of Ukraine."