Russia 'no comment' over mystery departure of ambassador

A spokesman for the Russian government declined to explain why Alexey Pavlovsky had left his Canberra posting to return to Moscow earlier in the month.

He was appointed in 2019 and had been the longest serving ambassador to Australia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

He has not had an easy time of it as Moscow's point of contact with the Commonwealth government over the invasion of Ukraine (not that he and his government called it an invasion).

Australia is not at war with Russia but it has been supplying military material to Ukraine.

More specifically, Ambassador Pavlovsky was pivotal to whatever talks there might have been over the fate of the Australian teacher Oscar Jenkins who was captured by Russian forces last year as he fought for Ukraine. He was thought to have died but grim video then emerged of him in Russian captivity. Foreign minister Penny Wong stated that he was in Russian custody.

The ambassador was also involved in ultimately failed efforts to move the embassy from Canberra Avenue to a new site in Yarralumla.

The embassy's lease for the new plot was revoked by the National Capital Authority and a court challenge by the Russian government then failed.

The reason for the ambassador's departure is not known but it is unusual for an ambassador to leave without a replacement being named and even in place immediately. The number two at the embassy Chargé d'Affaires Yulia Gromyko is now thought to be the most senior Russian diplomat.

It would be fruitless to surmise on the reasons for the departure but they clearly range from personal reasons like an illness to displeasure from the regime in Moscow.

He is not the only ambassador to leave recently. The American ambassador Caroline Kennedy departed with the Trump presidential victory - but that was completely usual and expected. The British high commissioner Vicki Treadell has also just departed but, again, that was a routine change.

The Russian embassy has faced weekly demonstrations on the nature strip outside.

At one stage, a dead possum was thrown over its fence.

When it happened, the ambassador vented his anger, including at the decision to prevent the embassy's move. He told The Canberra Times that there had been "anti-Russian hysteria among Australian politicians which had prevailed over the basics of statecraft and common sense," the ambassador said.

"Let me recount to you a story," he said.

"A couple of weeks ago, one of those guys who are paid to stage pro-Ukrainian rallies off our compound in Canberra Avenue, choosing a moment when police were not around, threw a dead possum body over the fence to the embassy territory.

"Most probably, he saw this vulgar act of hooliganism as some form of commendable political signaling."

The ambassador saw the Ukrainian situation as behind the decision to block Russia's embassy expansion - "vindictive" was the word he used.