‘Russian diplomat’ occupying vetoed embassy site in Australia

Parliament passed emergency legislation last week blocking on security grounds Russia’s lease on the largely empty block because the new embassy would have been too close to Parliament House.

The of the proposed new Russian embassy in Canberra (Rod McGuirk/AP)

A suspected lone Russian diplomat is apparently squatting on the site of Moscow’s proposed embassy in Canberra after the Australian government vetoed the plan on security grounds.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese dismissed the Russian act of defiance in occupying the site in the capital, saying a “bloke standing in the cold on a bit of grass in Canberra is not a threat to our national security”.