Nelson mayor and two city councillors banned from Russia

Nelson mayor Rachel Reese and city councillors Matt Lawrey and Pete Rainey are three of 32 more New Zealanders who have been blacklisted by Russia.

A Russian Foreign Ministry-issued statement said those included on the list had been banned from entering Russia on an “indefinite basis” in response to New Zealand government sanctions applied to “an increasing number of Russian citizens”.

“It’s an odd one,” Lawrey said on Sunday. “It’s definitely not something I expected today.”

Lawrey said he assumed two events he organised to show support for the people of Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion was the reason for the inclusion of the Nelson trio. Reese spoke at both events while Rainey conducted a choir at the second.

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“Both [events] got national media coverage,” Lawrey said. “I’m quietly chuffed that the [Russian Foreign Ministry] has taken notice of the good things we’ve been doing in Nelson-Whakatū to support the people of Ukraine.”

However, Lawrey was not happy about a suggestion he was “Russophobic”.

“I love the people of Russia,” he said. “Some people at the event were Russian.”

Lawrey said he believed he was the first person in his family to be banned from a country.

“What a classic.”

Rainey said he conducted a choir at the event organised by Lawrey and another choir at a church-organised Vigil for Ukraine but did not recall ever speaking out about Russia.

“It seems crazy that something so peaceful can result in this sort of action,” Rainey said. “I’m struggling to think of anything else it could possibly be.”

Like many New Zealanders, Rainey would like to travel abroad.

“Sadly, it seems that Russia is going to be off the list.”

Reese said she had met Ukrainian residents in Nelson shortly after the Russian invasion and was asked to make a recording to send to the people of Ukraine. That video had been widely distributed, she said.

It was the responsibility of a mayor to speak on behalf of the community including people of different cultures, Reese said.

While she had heard Russia was a beautiful country, Reese said she had no plans to travel there.

Earlier this year, 130 New Zealand politicians and officials – including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Cabinet ministers, parliamentarians from all political parties, the governor-general, and military and spy chiefs – were also blacklisted by the Russian state. Each of the 120 MPs were on the list including Nelson-based representatives Rachel Boyack and Chris Baillie.

Lawrey said with he, Reese and Rainey now being added to list, “Nelson must, per capita, be the most banned city in the country”.