Two other girls in the car suffered injuries to their pelvises, with one suffering long-term complications which may impact on a future pregnancy.
Another boy in the car hurt his shoulder and received a concussion.
Asking for a discharge without conviction, defence counsel Richard Slade argued Buzmakov had been told by Immigration New Zealand that if he was convicted he could be deported.
He was on a temporary visa after moving to New Zealand when he was 6.
He was worried that if sent back to Russia, which has compulsory conscription, he would be forced to serve in Ukraine.
Judge Claire Ryan, said while she agreed there was a "real and appreciable risk" in that happening, it was also true of all people who came before the courts from another country which has mandatory conscription.
"I'm not satisfied that the risk that you may have to leave this country, as many others do, is out of all proportion to the gravity of this particular offending," she told him.
She sentenced him to three month' community detention and 90 hours' community work, and disqualified him from holding or obtaining a driving licence for 12 months.
In sentencing Judge Ryan described Buzmakov as "a young man with great promise" who had "impeccable" references and had apologised to his victims.
However, his actions that night were "highly reckless, stupid and selfish".
"You were lucky, as were your victims, that somebody wasn't killed that night."
A message needed to be sent to young people that "they are not bullet-proof and nor are their friends", she said.
"Driving in this way is going to kill somebody if not permanently harm or disable them," she said.
