The Kremlin on Thursday condemned “Russophobic hysteria” by Australia, which took legal action to prevent Russia from building its new embassy a stone’s throw from its parliament, amid tensions over the offensive in Ukraine, AFP and Agerpres reported.

“To our great regret, Australia continues to follow the heels of the authors of the Russophobic hysteria, which is currently wreaking havoc in Western countries,” Dmytro Peskov, press secretary of the Russian president, told the media.

“Australia seeks to achieve excellence in these countries,” he quipped, condemning the “show of hostility” that would require an “appropriate” response from Moscow.

Since 2008, Russia has leased land about 400 meters from Parliament House in Canberra from an Australian federal government agency, and in 2011 received permission to build its new embassy there.

In August 2022, the government sought to terminate the lease for failure to meet certain building permit conditions, but that decision was overturned by a federal court last May.

On Thursday, the Australian government passed new laws aimed at blocking construction. This does not prevent Russia from having a diplomatic presence in Australia, but building so close to Parliament.

A Russian diplomat told AFP that the embassy was now seeking a “legal opinion” on the matter.

How the Australian government justified blocking the construction of the Russian embassy

“The government has received very clear security advice about the risk posed by a new Russian presence so close to parliament,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.

According to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Australia, Claire O’Neill, the new embassy that Russia wants to build is an obvious threat to the country’s national security.

“The main problem with the plan for a second Russian embassy in Canberra is its location,” she said, noting that “the site is directly adjacent to the Parliament building”.

Australia is the latest country to be accused by the Kremlin or other Russian authorities of being “Russophobic” over actions taken against Moscow since it launched its invasion of Ukraine last year.

Among them were Western countries, as well as Japan and the Republic of Moldova. Poland has been Moscow’s favorite target in this regard, accused by the Kremlin of “rabid Russophobia.”

Russia wants to introduce criminal liability for “Russophobia”

Several Russian officials have recently said that Russia may criminalize “Russophobia,” although it is unclear how this might work for third countries or their citizens.

“I unequivocally support the need to enshrine the concept of ‘Russophobia’ in our Russian legislation, to form mechanisms to prevent the spread of information hostile to Russia and to establish responsibility for Russophobic activities,” said the Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation. Andriy Loginov last month during a speech in St. Petersburg.

His comments came after Russia’s human rights commissioner Tetiana Moskalkova announced in March that she would propose changes to Russian law to criminalize “Russophobia.”

“In general, today there are legal grounds for solving this problem – there is Article 282 of the Criminal Code, which speaks of discriminatory actions based on nationality, and there is Article 12 of the Criminal Code, which speaks of the responsibility of foreign citizens. for actions that harm our citizens,” she told the Rossiya-24 TV channel on March 3.

“But in practice, these norms do not work enough,” Moskalkova complained, adding that, in her opinion, “special wording is needed that focuses on Russophobia in general, and not only as a socially dangerous crime.”

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