Australia’s High Court dismisses Russian bid to stop embassy eviction

A man walks along a fence that surrounds a a building on the grounds of a proposed new Russian embassy near the Australian Parliament in Canberra (Rod McGuirk, AP)

Australia’s highest court dismissed Russia’s application for an injunction on Monday that would have prevented Moscow’s embassy being evicted from a site in Canberra.

In dismissing the application, High Court Justice Jayne Jagot described Russia’s challenge on constitutional grounds to a law terminating the lease as “weak” and “difficult to understand”.