INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A mystery Russian diplomat with a penchant for loungewear and cigarettes sparked a national security standoff between Canberra and the
gambit: despatching a bespectacled official to squat in a run-down portable cabin on the site.The middle-aged man, clad in track pants and a
puffer jacket, presents a prickly challenge for Australian officials, who are wary of forcibly evicting a Russian envoy.Government sources
man remained inside the cabin for most of Friday, as multiple Australian police vehicles parked nearby.But he finally emerged hooded into
the frigid Canberra night to smoke a cigarette before returning to the cabin to watch TV.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
described the diplomat on Friday as "some bloke standing in the cold on a blade of grass in Canberra."The "bloke" Albanese insisted, is "not
parliament passed laws specifically aimed at stopping a Russian embassy from being built on the site, which sits about 400 meters (440
yards) away from the parliamentary precinct."The government has received very clear security advice as to the risk posed by a new Russian
presence so close to Parliament House," Albanese told reporters."We are acting quickly to ensure the lease site does not become a formal
"Russophobic hysteria."Russia's Foreign Ministry earlier this week released a list of 48 Australians who were banned from the country for
propagating an "anti-Russian agenda."The list included journalists, government officials, and executives from local defense companies.
