The Ukraine Peace Flotilla set sail from Auckland this morning with “No War” banners flying.
Before sailing, Greenpeace Aotearoa programme director Niamh O’Flynn said: “Today we depart Tamaki Makaurau for Helena Bay in the far north. We sail to join the peace flotilla heading to the luxury retreat of Alexander Abramov, and there we will renew our call for sanctions against the billionaire oligarchs with ties to Putin’s regime.”
“If we want to dismantle the power behind this military aggression then we have to cut off the money behind the Putin regime and those who have influence over him.
(C) Greenpeace / Geoff Reid
“We support the bill passed unanimously through parliament last night which empowers sanctions on the oligarchs behind President Putin. One of those oligarchs is Alexander Abramov and he has a luxury retreat in Helena Bay.
“If the Government’s new sanctions law is going to mean something, Abramov’s assets must be frozen immediately.”
On March 5th, Greenpeace Aotearoa called on the Government to freeze the assets of Russian oligarchs in New Zealand.
(C) GREENPEACE / Geoff Reid
Niamh O’Flynn’s full speech
We are here to call for peace.
And peace is the overarching message of this flotilla.
We stand in solidarity with the brave and terrified people of Ukraine.
We stand in solidarity with the brave peace activists in Russia whose protest against the war puts them at serious personal risk.
We are calling for not only an end to military aggression by President Putin but also for calm heads from other military powers.
The war in Ukraine is already appalling but it can get worse.
Present in all our minds is the unimaginable potential for the use of nuclear weapons.
The only lasting defense against nuclear war is total global nuclear disarmament.
That was true in 1957 when the global campaign for nuclear disarmament began.
That was true in 1972 when this boat Vega sailed to Mururoa Atoll to protest French nuclear weapons testing.
That was true in 1985 at the height of the cold war when a few hundred meters from here the Rainbow Warrior was bombed for protesting that same nuclear testing.
And it was true that same year when We as a nation – Aotearoa New Zealand – refused the visit of the USS Buchanan and became nuclear weapons free.
We played a proud part in standing for global peace and we must do that again.
Today we depart Tamaki Makaurau for Helena Bay in the far north. We sail to join others in a peace flotilla heading to the luxury retreat of billionaire oligarch Alexander Abramov.
There we will renew our call for sanctions against the billionaires with ties to Putin’s regime.
If we want to dismantle the power behind this military aggression then we have to cut off the money behind the Putin regime, and those who have influence over him.
We support the bill passed unanimously through parliament which empowers sanctions on the oligarchs behind President Putin.
One of those oligarchs is Alexander Abramov.
We are calling on the government to immediately freeze his assets here in New Zealand.
In other territories they are seizing the “super yachts” of oligarchs.
Abramov has hidden his super yacht in the Maldives, apparently to save it from seizure but he can’t hide his resort at Helena Bay.
These boats here today – Vega and Windborne – are symbols of peace and activism.
Once again we sail for peace and sanity. We sail in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and those impacted by the war here in Aotearoa and around the world. And we sail to call for real and tangible action by the Ardern government to freeze the assets of the oligarchs like Alexander Abramov.
Peace!
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.
