NZ should take stronger action over Russia: Patman

New Zealand should move on from earlier talk of Russian spies and take stronger protest action over the use of a Russian nerve agent to poison two people and harm others in Britain.

That is the view of  University of Otago international relations specialist Prof Robert Patman, who says New Zealand should consider launching, or being a prominent part of, a high-level United Nations initiative over the matter.

The New Zealand Government should rethink its position and act in a way consistent with its values and beliefs, by taking a high-profile initiative, perhaps in association with Australia.

"By taking up this issue New Zealand would be demonstrating more solidarity than it has so far with the victims of the [UK] attack," he said in an interview.

We could raise, through the United Nations, the question of the existence, whereabouts and controls on any internationally banned nerve agents under Russian control.

The crucial point over the use of a Russian nerve agent to poison former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, England, was not whether New Zealand had any Russian spies, but how we viewed this "appalling"  attack in Britain, in terms of  our  beliefs, and values, and how we should respond to that, he said.

Nineteen other people in Salisbury had also required medical attention after the attack.

Not having earlier expelled a Russian embassy staff member or two earlier, the New Zealand  Government should rethink its position and take other high-level protest action.

Other recent Russian actions had included forms of cyber warfare, and interference with the running of several western democracies, including the 2016  United States presidential elections, the Brexit vote in the UK, and the funding of far right political forces in the recent German elections, he said.

Taking action over the Salisbury incident was not simply a matter of taking a "me too" approach, because many other countries had already done so, but taking action because that was the right thing to do in terms of our values as a good international citizen.

"We’ve always considered ourselves as very good international citizens."

And, as a relatively small country, we also had a strong vested interest in maintaining the international rule of law and taking a stand against the "gangster"-like activities of the Kremlin over the Salisbury attack, he said.

The discussion in New Zealand about the Government’s response had been sidetracked by an over-concern with whether we had Russian "spies" here, and if they should be expelled, Prof Patman said.

Clearly there was some Russian intelligence activity in New Zealand, but that was not necessarily carried out by people who were undeclared Russian embassy intelligence staff, who, for example, pretended to be an embassy cook while carrying out specific covert intelligence gathering work, he said.

Twenty-six countries have reportedly expelled Russian envoys,  among them New Zealand’s Five Eyes security partners Australia, Canada, the United States and the  UK.

It comes after the UK’s initial move to boot out 23 diplomats — a move that was matched by Russia.

New Zealand initially declined to expel any Russian embassy personnel, saying there was no specific evidence of covert intelligence activity by such staff.

Consideration has since also been given to imposing some form of Russian-related visa travel restrictions.

Irrespective of what other countries were doing, it was "in our own self-interest" for  New Zealand to decide if our values and interests were "being offended or threatened by the Russian activities", he said.