Mar 7, 2022: According to a report by Reuters, New Zealand’s government on Monday announced it will introduce legislation to allow it to impose sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

If approved, it would be the first time that New Zealand has imposed sanctions on a country individually. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the sanctions would allow the country to freeze Russian assets in New Zealand, prevent people and companies from moving their money and assets here to avoid sanctions imposed by other countries, and would ban super yachts and ships.

The sanctions would also provide the ability to prevent aircraft from entering the country’s waters or airspace. It has also released a list of 100 people banned from traveling to New Zealand. Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine a “special operation.”

The UN Security Council which is a body normally responsible for implementing such sanctions cannot in this case do so since Russia, a permanent member of the forum has the power to veto such a resolution.

“Ultimately if we had a security council that was more functional we would not be facing this issue in the first place,” said Ardern.

New Zealand has previously only been able to implement sanctions when the United Nations Security Council has imposed them. Ardern said the country was forced to introduce the new legislation since the current multilateral system has failed in this regard.