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An Australian fan
An Australian fan holds his own World Cup trophy in the air in Moscow’s Red Square. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
An Australian fan holds his own World Cup trophy in the air in Moscow’s Red Square. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Diplomats hard at work in Russia during Australian invasion

This article is more than 5 years old

From lost passports to a terrorist scare, the embassy in Moscow is prepared to deal with anything

Barring a major incident, the thousands of Socceroos fans presently in Russia will never appreciate the time and resources that have been expended by the Australian government ahead of their visit. But for Australia’s Embassy in Moscow, located barely 20 minutes’ walk from the iconic Red Square, the biggest sporting event on earth has been on the agenda ever since the World Cup was awarded to Russia in 2010.

The embassy’s substantive planning began a year ago, despite the uncertainties of Australia’s circuitous route to World Cup qualification. “The initial phase was just the ‘what if’, but as we got further through the qualifying rounds we started doing more planning,” explains Ambassador Peter Tesch, who has previously been Australia’s top diplomat in Germany and Kazakhstan. “Like the military we plan and, whether or not we end up using the plan depends on the circumstances. We were working on the assumption that the Socceroos would make it.”

Although that presumption may have looked precarious at times, Australia ultimately beat Syria and Honduras in the knock-out rounds to secure their place at the World Cup. Then came the hard work. According to Fifa, 13,170 fan IDs have been issued to Australians, but Tesch cites other reports which indicate as many as 36,000 Australians may be in or on their way to Russia. The ambassador laughs: “That’s a very big number.”

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While the embassy has institutional experience from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and several other sporting events that have recently taken place in Russia, Tesch admits that this is new territory. “It is a much bigger number than we would ever expect to see in a normal year in Russia,” he says.

Tesch and his team stand ready to provide assistance to Australians during the tournament. The embassy’s planning runs the full gamut of possible situations. “In the worse case we plan for the large-scale contingencies,” says the ambassador. “If there is some sort of significant incident that affects Australians en masse. It does not even have to be a terrorist scare – it could simply be an infrastructure failure, a breakdown in public transport – anything that is going to inconvenience Australians and put them at risk.

“The other end of the spectrum is the much more likely: the day to day experience of people who lose a passport, use it as a beer coaster, put it through the washing machine etc, or are hospitalised,” he continues. “These are the more practical consular contingencies that we have been preparing for.”

Since Australia qualified, the embassy has been liaising closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra and local authorities in Russia. “We have had reconnaissance teams go to each of the three cities where we are playing group matches,” says Tesch. “They have seen the facilities and met the authorities to establish personal connections. We have also developed relationships with the local organising committee, and we have a contingent of Australian Federal Police here to be the formal liaison point in the event we need to intervene in cases involving Australians.”

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Australia’s embassy in Moscow was rocked in late March when two diplomats – out of a team of 10 (plus local staff) – were expelled by the Russian government. The move came in retaliation for Canberra’s expulsion of two alleged Kremlin spies after the Sergei Skripal incident. Tesch says that while the embassy’s World Cup planning was impacted, the ramifications have been limited.

“We are able to compartmentalise these things,” he explains. “At one level in terms of logistics and the staff you have on hand, and internal adjustments to ensure we can deploy resources as required, that was obviously something affected by the departure of two diplomats. It meant we had to think about where we might see some give in the priorities. But we have been working through this and we have contingencies in place.” The embassy has temporarily borrowed diplomats from other Australian embassies in Europe to bolster their numbers.

Consular responsibilities and somewhat fraught political relations are not the only thing keeping Tesch busy. On the evening before the Socceroos’ opening match in Kazan, the diplomat was at a multiplex cinema in the city’s centre hosting an Australian film festival for curious locals. Australia’s time in Kazan might not have been successful on the pitch, but off it cultural diplomacy is winning Russian admirers. Similar screenings are planned for Samara, Sochi and several non-host cities.

After spending his entire career with Australia’s foreign office, Tesch’s diplomatic guard does not even drop for football. When asked to pick the 2018 World Cup winner, the Ambassador does not hesitate. “Australia,” he deadpans. “What else would you expect me to say?”

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