Ukraine war: Russia blacklists Jacinda Ardern, Government, Parliament MPs

Russia has blacklisted every MP in New Zealand's Parliament, along with top defence force officials and the heads of intelligence agencies.

Being blacklisted means no one on the list will be able to enter Russia.

A statement in Russian, posted to the website of the Russian foreign affairs ministry, said that in response to "unprecedented sanctions [from Wellington] which "affected the top leaders of the Russian Federation", 130 top officials would be put on a "blacklist".

It includes Jacinda Ardern and the rest of the Government, as well as every single MP in Parliament.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said the sanctions were "not unexpected given our clear position on President Putin's unjustified invasion of Ukraine".

Members of the military were also blacklisted. Secretary of Defence and chief executive of the Ministry of Defence Andrew Bridgman are on the list, as are the heads of the individual armed forces including Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Clark, Rear Admiral David Proctor and Major General John Boswell.

The chief of the defence force, Air Marshal Kevin Short, and the vice chief, Vice-Marshal Tony Davies, are also on the list.

The statement accused New Zealand of joining "the campaign initiated by the US and its satellites to contain Russia".

Andrew Hampton and Rebecca Kitteridge, the heads of New Zealand's spy agencies the GCSB and NZSIS, are also named.

Russia's statement said New Zealand had become "Russophobic" and alleged the Government had fallen into the orbit of Washington.

"Wellington's readiness, forgetting about his own interests and generally accepted decency, to follow a Russophobic course once again testifies to the lack of independence of his foreign policy and servility towards the leaders of the "collective West".

The statement warned that any "anti-Russian actions" including inciting a "negative attitude towards Russia "will be resolutely rebuffed".

The Government has announced multiple rounds of sanctions on Russia, and has sanctioned hundreds of individual Russians, including President Vladimir Putin.

MFAT was told of the ban by New Zealand's embassy in Moscow, and said it was in line with sanctions on other countries.

"We have raised our condemnation of Russia's actions directly to the Russian Government, including through the Russian Ambassador in Wellington and through our own Ambassador in Moscow," an MFAT spokesperson said.

Overnight, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta participated virtually in a meeting of Nato and Nato partner foreign ministers held in Brussels.

The meeting included Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

The 39 countries that took part were "united in their condemnation of Putin's invasion, in their strong solidarity with Ukraine, and in their determination to uphold international law in the face of Russia's aggression," according to a readout of the meeting posted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website.