National's leader Christopher Luxon has gone a step further than the prime minister, labelling Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal.
Christopher Luxon Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday declined to use those words, saying while every piece of evidence pointed to war crimes being committed by Russia, it was not up to her.
"Ultimately it is for the international criminal court to make that determination, but the evidence is there," Ardern said.
Luxon this morning said he appreciated there was a process before Putin could be formally prosecuted, "but I think that we can see what's happening there and it's definitely war crimes".
"Officially you've got to be prosecuted and convicted before you get labelled a criminal but I'd have to say to you the evidence is pretty compelling. The evidence is there, I would be comfortable calling him a war criminal."
The ACT Party has backed the prime minister's careful use of language with leader David Seymour saying Ardern has adopted the right position over the international criminal court's role.
Seymour added that in his personal opinion Putin is commiting war crimes.
The Greens' co-leader James Shaw has condemned Putin as a ghastly human being, but said Ardern is right not to call him a war criminal.
Ardern has maintained that removing Russia's ambassador would mean New Zealand's representatives to Russia being similarly removed, saying the other measures used - sanctions, trade restrictions, aid to Ukraine and deployments - were "far more powerful".
She said the option of expulsion remained on the table however, and Luxon today repeated National's calls to do so.
"We said on day one the time for diplomacy was over, that it was finished and there was no intention for a diplomatic resolution to this, and you've continued to see that over the last month.
"From our point of view we would have pulled our own ... staff out of Russia and sent the Russia diplomat home."
Luxon seemed to agree with the government's approach to provision of aid.
"We've got to focus on what our core competency is and what our advantages are and what we can actually do to help. There's more resourced countries that can add something quite different ... actually offering our humanitarian aid and the services that we are, that's entirely appropriate."
In a statement, Luxon's foreign affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee described the government's action as "ineffective", saying the second tranche of sanctions which came into effect last night would have disappointed the Ukrainian community.
"Entities like the biggest Russian banks and financial service providers are noticeably absent. New Zealand has sanctioned only one bank, Promsvyazbank, under the Act and it's not even Russia's largest.
"To date, of the 488 individuals sanctioned, only 49 have been subject to asset freezes - an astounding 439 are only subject to travel bans, which are currently meaningless as Russian nationals are not permitted into New Zealand until October when the border opens."
He said this showed New Zealand was not in step with international partners like the US, UK, EU and Australia as the government claimed, and called for urgent new sanctions mirroring theirs "instead of putting out press release proclaiming actions that are disappointing".