Australian officials scuppered new Russian embassy over spy fears: report

Australian security officials have reportedly torpedoed a new Russian embassy over fears Moscow was trying to send in spies disguised as contractors.

Australian security officials intentionally torpedoed a new Russian embassy over fears Moscow was trying to send spies disguised as contractors, according to a report.

Canberra on Wednesday announced it had ripped up the lease for a planned new Russian embassy under a “use it or lose it” policy, claiming the country didn’t finish building its new diplomatic headquarters fast enough.

The National Capital Authority (NCA) told Russia on Wednesday that it had 20 days to vacate the “premium” site in Yarralumla, a stone’s throw from Parliament House.

Russia, which already has an embassy in the Canberra suburb of Griffith, was planning to relocate the embassy to the Yarralumla site where a new building would be erected.

The lease was granted in 2008 and works and building approvals were issued in 2011.

Russia had promised to finish building in three years, the NCA said, but had not completed the project.

Russia has had its lease on a block of land in Canberra terminated.

The National Capital Authority said it supported a ‘use it or lose it’ policy.

“The block is a premium site in central Canberra, close to Lake Burley Griffin and the Australian Parliament House,” NCA chief executive Sally Barnes said.

“Ongoing unfinished works detract from the overall aesthetic, importance and dignity of the area reserved for diplomatic missions and foreign representation in the national capital.”

On Thursday, The Australian reported that the diplomatic row was sparked amid fears the Kremlin had sought to bring in spies to work on the building — which would be a modern facility with greater espionage potential.

According to the newspaper, Russia had tried to bring in its own contractors over the past two years to check the work of local firms, but the Home Affairs Department denied them entry on the belief they would include members of Russia’s Federal Security Service.

“They put them down as contractors to make sure the build was certified to Russian standards,” a source told The Australian.

“But you can infer that they would include Russian security services members who would ensure the security of the building.”

The Australian quoted another senior national security source as saying it was preferable to have Russia removed from the site for contractual reasons over security reasons.

The site is close to Parliament House. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire

“They are very good at the ­intelligence game,” they said. “To have a modernised ­embassy that would facilitate all the malicious things that they do would have been very undesirable.”

Home Affairs has been contacted for comment.

The decision to block the Russian contractors came despite the Rudd/Gillard government approving a large number of Chinese contactors to work on a nearby residential complex for Chinese diplomats, the newspaper noted.

The Chinese Embassy in Canberra was famously bugged with fibre-optic cables by Australian and US intelligence officers during its construction in the late 1980s, sparking a major diplomatic row when the scheme was revealed by the ABC and The Sydney Morning Herald in 1995.

China has barred Australian contractors from its embassy ever since.

“With limited blocks currently available for diplomatic purposes, unless a country can demonstrate a willingness and ability to develop the site, the NCA supports a policy of ‘use it or lose it’,” Ms Barnes said on Wednesday.

“While initial works have commenced, the block in question has been sitting as a building site with unfinished construction for many years now.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Picture: Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP

The NCA said it had engaged in “regular consultation and discussions with Russian representatives over many years” but there was still no “commitment to a completion date”.

“Once cleared, the NCA will return the site back into the pool of land available for diplomatic purposes,” the statement said.

“The decision to terminate the lease for a new embassy does not affect the existing Russian Embassy. The Russian Federation may submit a new application in the future which the NCA will review and assess accordingly.”

A Russian embassy spokesman flagged potential legal action over the decision.

“The embassy would refrain from detailed public comments for now and will first of all seek legal advice on the unprecedented and highly unwelcome move by the NCA,” he told The Australian.

“It is really puzzling why the NCA chose to terminate the lease now that the construction process at Yarralumla site has been steadily going on uninterrupted for the last two plus years with results already very much visible and prospects rather clear.”

— with NCA NewsWire

Originally published as Australian officials scuppered new Russian embassy over spy fears: report