(Sydney) The Australian government will oppose the construction of a new Russian embassy near the Houses of Parliament in Canberra, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday, citing a national security risk.
“The government has received very clear security advice about the risk posed by a new Russian presence so close to parliament,” Albanese told reporters.
Russia currently leases a plot near Parliament in Canberra. The Australian government has already tried, without success, to cancel this lease, signed for the first time in 2008.
Mr. Albanese announced that after having explored all possible legal avenues in vain, new laws would be voted by Parliament to block the construction of the Russian embassy on this land.
“We are acting quickly to ensure that the leased site does not become an official diplomatic presence,” the prime minister said.
For the Australian Minister of the Interior, Clare O’Neil, the new embassy that Russia wishes to build constitutes an obvious threat to the national security of the country.
“The main problem with the proposed second Russian embassy in Canberra is its location,” she said. “The location is directly adjacent to the Houses of Parliament”.
The current Russian embassy is in the Griffith district in the south of the city.