A Ukrainian-Kiwi believes Russia's invasion of Ukraine is "terrorism" and is calling on the Government to do more to criticise Moscow.
It follows a revelation by Stuff that Auckland-based Russian woman Antonina Ovchinnikova has raised about NZ$43,000 for Moscow funding weapons such as gun sights, machine gun mufflers and drones for the soldiers.
Ovchinnikova runs a Russian language channel - which has gained 23,000 followers - on Telegram where she posts Russian nationalist propaganda and updates on the invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian-Kiwi Anastasiya Gutorova told AM on Wednesday it's "very concerning" what Ovchinnikova is doing and has called on the New Zealand Government to step up.
"I know that New Zealand's existing laws prohibiting hate speech are very narrow, but this clearly falls within them because this woman is promoting Russian propaganda to thousands of her followers, which calls for the extermination of Ukrainians," Gutorova told AM co-host Ryan Bridge.
Gutorova is pushing for the Government to declare Russia a terrorist state, which would make Ovchinnikova's activity illegal, as any activity financially supporting terrorist acts would be a crime.
"The bigger issue here is that she is openly and actively financing terrorism from New Zealand and the only reason she can do that is because the New Zealand Government hasn't acknowledged the fact that Russia's campaign in Ukraine is terrorism," she said.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and since then, it has fired missiles into residential apartment buildings, committed massacre in Bucha, and forced millions of Ukrainians to flee to neighbouring countries.
Gutorova believes the Russian invasion has gone beyond "terrorism" and has firsthand experience of what is happening in Ukraine.
"I don't think there's any doubt that what Russia is doing is terrorism, in fact, it has gone beyond terrorism and what it's committing now is open genocide," she said.
"I personally was in Bucha a few weeks ago and I walked among hundreds of graves of civilian Ukrainians who were tortured and murdered by Russian soldiers and that memory will stay with me for the rest of my life."
Gutorova believes there are no excuses for Ovchinnikova, but she did have a simple message for her.
"A lot of people have defended Russian people who believe in propaganda, who is in Russia on the basis that they fear being persecuted in Russia or they have no access to information," she said.
"Neither of those excuses works in New Zealand. This is a choice and it's clearly the wrong choice in context."
Police wouldn't confirm to Newshub if they're investigating Ovchinnikova but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they're aware police are looking into the matter.
Gutorova would also like to see the Government make changes to the special visa that allows them to bring family members to New Zealand.
She told AM thousands of Ukrainians would like to come to Aotearoa as a safe haven if they could.
"There are multiple problems actually with the system because Ukrainians are not recognised as refugees in New Zealand and as a result, they don't get any support from the Government," she said.
"What that means is the criteria around who you can invite, who can invite people, and the associated cost of travelling to New Zealand and all of the expenses that follow, all of that has resulted in people not being able to take advantage of the policy."
Gutorova said they're actively campaigning to get the Government to change the current policy so more Ukrainians can come to New Zealand.
"What's happening in Ukraine is absolutely terrible and there are still millions of people who are looking for shelter and safety," she said.
"I'm sure that thousands of people would love to come to New Zealand as a safe haven if they could, but clearly the policy is just not allowing them to do that."
