Australia's top court blocks Russia from building new Embassy

Australia's highest court on Wednesday blocked Russia from building a new embassy in the nation's capital, unanimously upholding a law that cancelled its lease on national security grounds.



Russia owned a lease to a plot of land that is about 300 metres from Parliament House in Canberra and intended to build a new embassy building there to replace an older building elsewhere in the capital.



But in 2023, the Australian government introduced a law to cancel the lease after receiving "very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a new Russian presence so close to Parliament House," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at the time.



Russia challenged the law in front of the High Court of Australia, arguing parliament was not authorised under the constitution to pass such a law.



On Wednesday, the court ruled unanimously that the Home Affairs Act 2023 validly invoked parliament's constitutional power to seize land on "just terms," though it said Moscow was entitled to compensation.