Peters won’t respond to Russian allegations

Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand won’t respond to ‘‘some apparatchik’’ in the Russian foreign service who has alleged the New Zealand Defence Force committed crimes in Afghanistan.

Peters was questioned in the House on his response on Tuesday, after Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova ‘‘condemned’’ New Zealand’s actions last week.

The spokeswoman said New Zealand must punish those responsible for ‘‘crimes’’ – appearing to reference a Stuff Circuit investigation, which revealed seven children were among

17 killed and injured by unexploded ordnance left behind on New Zealandoperated firing ranges in Afghanistan.

The prime minister and the Defence Force have referenced the Russian military’s historic use of the area when distancing New Zealand from culpability.

The Defence Force, under direction of the prime minister, has committed to properly clear the ranges of ordnance, possibly starting in April

2020.

Peters, in the House, said the Russians were aware the Defence Force would be clearing the ranges.

National Party foreign affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee asked if Peters would be ‘‘calling in’’ the Russian ambassador to explain ‘‘that it is unacceptable to the New Zealand Government ... when [the Russians] have left 30 million landmines that kill or maim 2000 Afghans every year’’.

The children killed in an explosion caused by a device left behind on a New Zealand firing range in Afghanistan: Hussain Khudabakhsh, left, Hussain Bakhsh Mohammad, Amina Nowruz, and names unknown.

Peters said: ‘‘I don’t have to. The Russian ambassador’s watching this programme as I speak and is hanging on every word.

‘‘We’re not going to react to an apparatchik in the foreign services of the Russia ... We don’t react like that.’’

Brownlee later said the ‘‘strength’’

Gerry Brownlee, left, asked Winston Peters if he would point out Russia’s deadly landmine history.

of Russia’s allegations was unacceptable.

Zakharova described the ‘‘murder’’ of seven children ‘‘as a result of wrongdoings of New Zealand military who did not demine in the proper way the shooting ranges after using them’’.

‘‘We condemn such crimes against civilians in Afghanistan and we call for British and New Zealand authorities to finish the investigations and to punish those accountable for them.’’

The Stuff Circuit documentary did not suggest any deaths amounted to murder, but revealed the deaths had been linked to the New Zealand operated ranges.