Russia summons the Australian ambassador for Canberra’s refusal to build a diplomatic headquarters

MADRID, June 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned this Friday the Australian ambassador in Moscow, Greim Meehan, in protest of Canberra’s decision to terminate the lease it had with Russia for the construction of its embassy in the Australian capital.

“The Russian side intends to use all the necessary mechanisms to protect its interests, including possible retaliatory measures,” the Russian diplomatic portfolio asserted, according to information collected by the TASS news agency.

The Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, already accused the Australian authorities on the eve of advancing “diligently in the wake of the perpetrators of the Russophobic hysteria taking place in Western countries.”

Peskov warned that Moscow will take this measure against the construction of the Russian diplomatic complex in Canberra into account, and stressed that “if there is any problem that requires the principle of reciprocity”, Moscow will act “accordingly”.

The Australian Parliament has approved this week, at the request of the Government of the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, a law to invalidate a lease agreement for some land that had been reached with Moscow for the construction of a second embassy, ​​this time in the Australian capital.

Albanese has argued that there were “security risks” in the event that the building, which was to be located near Parliament, was finally raised. “The decision is made in the interest of Australia’s national security,” the prime minister settled on Australian television.

The Russian Embassy in Australia is in the town of Griffith, in New South Wales. In 2008 Moscow began work to build a new diplomatic headquarters in the capital until 2011 when it obtained the permits. In August 2022, in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine, Canberra terminated the agreement, but the Australian courts reversed this decision and sided with the Russian side.