Peters told the New Zealand Herald newspaper on Sunday that New Zealand would have nobody to trade with if it stopped trading with countries over all allegations of human rights violations, and added that Russia should not be an exception. Peters pointed out in the interview that there was no proof of Russia interfering with the US presidential election in 2016 or its involvement in the crash of a passenger plane over Ukraine in 2014.
"What the deputy prime minister [Peters] has pointed out is that while sanctions [against Russia] have been in place, there have been other countries within Europe who have traded around those sanctions… The reason I have no concern is the context in which he's discussing this issue is simply around New Zealand's access… relative to other countries," Ardern said, according to the video posted by Stuff news outlet.
The prime minister stressed that a free trade agreement with the European Union was still a priority for New Zealand.
Peters has repeatedly called for the resumption of free trade negotiations with Moscow that were put on hold after Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014.
READ MORE: New Zealand to Investigate Alleged Cover-Up of Queen Assassination Attempt
The residents of the peninsula voted for the reunification with Russia in a 2014 referendum. However, Ukraine continues to consider Crimea its territory. A number of other countries have refused to recognize the results of the referendum and imposed sanctions against Russia over it. Moscow has repeatedly pointed out that the vote was held in compliance with international legal standards.
The Boeing 777 plane en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board. The east of Ukraine was in turmoil at the time as a result of the conflict between local residents and the central government in Kiev.
The Joint Investigative Team (JIT), made up of Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine said in September last year that the plane was downed by a Buk air defense missile system brought from Russia.
Russian defense company Almaz-Antey, which manufactures the Buk system, rejected the JIT findings. The company said simulations showed the missile was launched from the area that was controlled by the Ukrainian government forces at the time.
