New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta Tuesday announced fresh sanctions on Russia’s banks and financial institutions. New Zealand’s Parliament passed the Russia Sanctions Act 2022 on March 9 “[i]n the absence of an effective response from the United Nations Security Council.” The new sanctions expand March’s legislation and affect 18 financial entities which make up about 80 percent of Russia’s total banking assets.
Mahuta commented:
These sanctions are designed to impose an economic and political cost, specifically targeting organisations that finance the continued invasion of Ukraine. With this latest round of sanctions, New Zealand is joining countries around the world who have imposed heavy penalties on President Putin and the system financing his illegal invasion.
The entities designated include government financial institutions like the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the nation’s largest banks, including Sberbank and VTB, and other banks linked to oligarchs or the defense industry. According to the United States Department of the Treasury, Sberbank alone holds nearly a third of all Russian bank assets and is the key creditor of the Russian economy.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken commended New Zealand’s sanctions regime, saying the announcement underscores New Zealand’s “commitment to the freedom, territorial integrity, and sovereignty of Ukraine and illustrates New Zealand’s lasting commitment to preserving the rules-based international order.”
Mahuta vowed New Zealand’s continued condemnation of “brutality from Russian forces” and support for the International Criminal Court’s investigation of war crimes in Ukraine.
