Russian embassy: Australia blocks new Canberra site over spying risk

Australia has blocked Russia from gathering a caller embassy adjacent its parliament, citing a spying risk.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said quality agencies had fixed "very wide information advice" connected the move.

Laws specifically drafted to halt operation were rapidly passed connected Thursday aft ineligible attempts to artifact the Canberra improvement failed.

The Kremlin said it was "yet different unfriendly action" which Russia would "take into account" successful the future.

Australia was pursuing the "Russophobic hysteria that is present going connected successful the countries of the corporate West", said spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

A Russian diplomat earlier told AFP that the embassy was seeking ineligible advice.

The caller authorities acknowledges that Russia whitethorn beryllium eligible for fiscal compensation.

The existent embassy volition not beryllium affected by the caller laws, which person bipartisan support.

Moscow presently holds the lease for a spot of land, acquired successful 2008, immoderate 400 metres (0.25 miles) from Canberra's Parliament House.

It has been laying the foundations for a caller embassy building, but operation has proceeded slowly.

As relations betwixt Australia and Russia soured successful the aftermath of the penetration of Ukraine, the erstwhile moved to rescind support for the caller building.

A erstwhile effort to cancel the lease was thrown retired by the national tribunal past month, prompting the caller legislation.

The laws took little than 5 minutes to beryllium introduced, and passed done the House of Representatives.

"We don't expect Russia is successful a presumption to speech astir planetary law, fixed their rejection of it truthful consistently and truthful brazenly with their penetration of Ukraine," said Mr Albanese, who condemned Russia's "illegal and immoral" penetration of Ukraine.

Former UK diplomat Alex Bristow of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told AFP that Russia has immoderate of the "largest, astir capable, astir aggressive, and slightest constrained quality services" successful the world.

"Given the proximity, it could beryllium a signifier of physics surveillance operating retired of the embassy," helium added.

The Australian authorities has not said if it has information concerns astir the Chinese embassy, which is adjacent to the Russian site.