Global Courant
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s highest court on Monday rejected Russia’s request for an injunction that would have prevented the Moscow embassy from being evacuated from a location in the national capital Canberra. A man who had occupied the site in a moveable hut for more than a week in an apparent act of Russian defiance left shortly afterwards.
Supreme Court Justice Jayne Jagot described Russia’s challenge on constitutional grounds of a lease-termination law as week. “I don’t see the (Russian) cause… as a strong one. It is indeed difficult to identify a serious question that should be attempted,” Jagot said.
Parliament passed emergency legislation on June 15 that ended Russia’s lease on the largely vacant block on security grounds because the new embassy was said to have moved too close to the parliament building.
Government lawyer Tim Begbie said Russia appeared to have sought the injunction to protect its own security and intelligence interests.
“It’s not just that they haven’t made a compelling case for constitutional invalidity in this filing, they’ve made absolutely no case for it,” Begbie said.
Russian lawyer Elliot Hyde had argued that the ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky would not have confidence in the integrity and safety of a consular building already on the site if the embassy was not allowed to keep the property until the challenge to the validity of the lease was decided .
Elliot said a man who has been living on the property in a portable cabin since at least last week was a security guard guarding the compound. The man was described in the media as a Russian diplomat.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision and expected the Russians to leave the site.
“The court has made it clear that there is currently no legal basis for a Russian presence on the site and we expect the Russian Federation to act in accordance with the court ruling,” Albanese told reporters.
The guard left the fenced area after the decision and didn’t say a word to reporters as he walked out the gate. He was carrying bags and was picked up by a car with diplomatic plates.
The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia had previously accused Australia of “Russophobic hysteria” for canceling the lease on the land in Canberra’s diplomatic district where Moscow wanted to build a new embassy. The current Russian embassy is located in Griffith, a suburb of Canberra, and its activities are not affected.
Australian National University international law expert Don Rothwell said an examination of the published list of accredited Russian diplomats in Australia revealed there were only three male diplomats who could be the man guarding the embassy grounds.
Given Elliot’s description of the squatter as a security guard, Rothwell doubted the man had diplomatic immunity, which could have prevented Australian authorities from removing him from the premises.
Now that he’s gone, police can avoid any further legal challenge by securing the location and preventing a Russian diplomat from taking his place, Rothwell said.
Australia’s federal police declined to explain last week why the man had not been removed from the disputed site as an intruder.
The legal wrangling over the site is a new low in tense delights between Russia and one of Ukraine’s most generous supporters outside NATO.
Albanians on Monday announced an additional 110 million Australian dollars ($74 million) in aid to Ukraine, including 70 military vehicles and 28 M113 tracked armored personnel carriers. The aid also includes munitions and AU$10 million ($6.7 million) in humanitarian aid for shelter, health care, clean water and sanitation.
The new aid package brings Australia’s total aid bill to Ukraine to AU$790 million ($528 million) since Russia invaded last year.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, who is also defense minister, said the conflict is expected to continue in the long term.
“We will support Ukraine for as long as it takes to resolve this conflict on their terms,” Marles said.
