Police and Hazmat crews on scene at Russian embassy in Canberra
Russian diplomats have been evacuated from their embassy in Canberra after a suspicious package was discovered.
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Russian diplomats have been evacuated after a suspicious package was discovered at the embassy in Canberra.
The package containing white powder prompted police and investigators in Hazmat suits to launch an investigation just after 10am on Thursday.
An ACT police spokesman confirmed the contents of the package were being assessed.
BREAKING | A suspicious package has been delivered to the Russian Embassy in #Canberra. Emergency services currently on scene as the contents of the package are being assessed. @9NewsAUS#9Newspic.twitter.com/0hKoIVCcWI
— Rachel Baxter (@rachbaxter9) March 3, 2022
Roads surrounding the embassy were closed off as dozens of emergency vehicles – including hazardous materials crews from the ACT Fire and Rescue Service – gathered at the scene.
An emergency filtration tent was erected around the site where the package was discovered.
On Monday, Police were called to the Russian Embassy in Wellington after an envelope containing white powder and a threatening note were received.
The contents were later found to be non-hazardous.
It comes as Canberrans continue to gather in front of the Russian embassy to protest the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
More than 200 people were in attendance at a peaceful demonstration at the weekend with signs condemning President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to topple the Ukrainian government.
RUSSIAN EMBASSY WASTING AWAY
Work has stalled on the Russian Embassy construction in Canberra, with the building still unfinished 14 years after Russia signed a lease to build it.
The new embassy on taxpayer-owned land in Yarralumla’s diplomatic quarter is incomplete and unoccupied, with weeds growing behind locked gates, and no work currently underway.
The construction project is being carried out by sub-contractors from Sydney.
Russia had asked for, but was unable to secure, the same deal that China did in the early 2000s which allowed it to bring in an entire foreign construction workforce to build its new embassy.
The Chinese were given the special deal to bring in their own workers after it was revealed Australia and the United States had bugged the original Chinese Embassy in the 1980s, installing fibre-optic cables in the walls and floors during construction.
The Russian Federation has longed wanted to update its dilapidated embassy in the Canberra suburb of Griffiths, where it had been located since 1942. Its first bid to relocate was rejected by the Fraser Government following the invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.
It signed a lease with the National Capital Authority in 2008 for a prime block of land on Forester Crescent, in the shadows of Parliament House, and across the road from neighbours China.
Plans for the new facility were approved in 2014 but work didn’t start until 2020.
The original site in Griffiths has been improved, with the additional of several accommodation buildings, which were still being completed this week. It is several suburbs away from the diplomatic enclave of Yarralumla, and will be consolidated as a residential compound once the new embassy is complete.
The embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
The National Capital Authority said it did not release embassy development plans to the public.
“However, we can confirm the NCA has approved the plans for the Russian Embassy in 2014, and the works on site are part of that approval,’’ a spokeswoman said.
The 2014 approvals for the embassy were complicated by the Coalition Government imposing sanctions at that time in response to Russia’s threats to Ukraine and annexing of Crimea, similar to those announced this week.
However, because Australia has not severed diplomatic relations with Russia, construction work was not affected.
Members of Parliament told News Corp the Russians were not particularly active politically, and rarely made the journey to lobby MPs at Parliament House.
Their new embassy is housed across from the Chinese Embassy and next door to the venerable Commonwealth Club, an elite private club “for ladies and gentlemen’’ first established in 1954 by former High Commissioner for India in Australia, General K.M. Cariappa.
- with Courtney Gould
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