In the name of peace, call on the New Zealand Government to freeze the assets of Russian billionaire oligarchs to pressure Vladimir Putin to call off the Russian Military invasion of Ukraine.
On March 5 we called on the Government to impose sanctions on Russian oligarchs here in Aotearoa to help apply pressure to end Vladimir Putin’s grotesque war on Ukraine.
Then on March 8 we announced that we would join the Peace Flotilla heading to Helena Bay to call on Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta to freeze oligarch assets in Aotearoa.
The very next day, (March 9) Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced that the Government would push the Russia Sanctions Act through parliament in order to impose sanctions on influential Russians in New Zealand.
Three days later, (on March 12) from on board the Windborne enroute to Helena Bay we released a dossier outlining a clear case for why Alexander Abramov should have his assets frozen.
Then, the next day, after a karakia led by Carmen Hetaraka of Ngātiwai, we reached Abramov’s secluded luxury retreat with the Peace Flotilla. There were seven yachts but we were soon joined by numerous other crafts, from stand up paddle boards to small fishing boats.
It was a beautiful thing.
While we were there, the Minister for Foreign Affairs was pressed on live TV about why so much time had passed without sanctions being placed on Abramov, the most influential Russian oligarch with ties to New Zealand.
It was a peaceful symbolic act of protest, and it had a real impact.
From our very beginning 50 years ago, Greenpeace has opposed nuclear weapons and war. From our first voyage to Amchitka to disrupt nuclear testing, through our opposition of the oil-driven US war on Iraq to our work in the Pacific to oppose French nuclear testing,
Greenpeace has always stood for peace.
It feels right to be doing it now as we witness the horror unfolding in Ukraine every day.
We’re focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine right now because of the sheer scale and because of the underlying nuclear threat to the world that goes with it. But we also have in mind the people of Yemen, the people of West Papua, the people of Palestine, and so many more peoples for whom war and oppression is a near constant.
The call for peace is universal.
In the name of peace, call on the New Zealand Government to freeze the assets of Russian billionaire oligarchs to pressure Vladimir Putin to call off the Russian Military invasion of Ukraine.
