Australia has prevented Russia from constructing a new embassy near its parliament, citing the risk of espionage. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that intelligence agencies had

provided clear security advice regarding the matter. Laws specifically designed to halt the construction were swiftly passed after previous legal attempts to block the development in Canberra failed.

The Kremlin characterized Australia's decision as "yet another unfriendly action," which Russia would consider in the future. A Russian diplomat confirmed that the embassy was seeking legal advice. The new legislation acknowledges the possibility of Russia being eligible for financial compensation.

The current Russian embassy will not be affected by the new laws and enjoys bipartisan support. Moscow currently holds a lease for a piece of land acquired in 2008, located approximately 400 meters (0.25 miles) from Parliament House in Canberra. While groundwork for a new embassy building has commenced, the construction has progressed slowly.

As relations between Australia and Russia deteriorated following the invasion of Ukraine, Australia rescinded permission for the new building. A previous attempt to cancel the lease was dismissed by the federal court last month, prompting the introduction of the new legislation.

The laws were introduced and passed in the House of Representatives in less than five minutes. Prime Minister Albanese criticized Russia's "illegal and immoral" invasion of Ukraine and stated that Russia was not in a position to talk about international law due to its consistent rejection of it.

Former UK diplomat Alex Bristow of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute noted that Russia possesses some of the world's largest, most capable, and least constrained intelligence services. Given the proximity of the proposed embassy, there are concerns about potential electronic surveillance activities originating from the facility. Photo by Grahamec, Wikimedia commons.