Chess great Gary Kasparov, who has been blowing the whistle on Russia's Vladimir Putin for years, says "New Zealand's voice must be heard" in the world's condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
He told Breakfast on Monday that it's because it's not about just Ukraine, but the world.
Kasparov says Putin has been planning for Ukraine's invasion in plain sight, thinking he'd get away with it.
But, Putin has "reached a point where the world couldn't tolerate any more of his aggression", he says.
"It's tragic we had to walk that far, and Ukraine is now paying with their lives."
Kasparov has been warning the world for 15 years - forming opposition movements, leading protests, being arrested, jailed and beaten by police in attempting to stand against Putin.
In 2015, Kasparov's book Winter is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped called on the West to stop appeasing Putin and warned what would happen if he remained unchecked.
He says Western powers "could have stopped Putin eight years ago" during the illegal annexation of Crimea. Instead, according to Kasparov, the West didn't take Putin seriously and didn't place serious sanctions on him.
He says that's allowed Putin to build up a war chest of sorts. The Washington Post reports Russia's central bank had US$640 billion in foreign exchange reserves, largely in the computers of Western central banks, as of February 18.
"It's very unfortunate that Putin was not taken seriously and European politicians and Americans thought they could do business as usual, making some sort of concessions to public opinion, but everything that was done prior to these days was more like lip service, modifying public opinion, rather than implementing serious sanctions to stop Putin by destroying his military machine."
But Kasparov says the world is beginning to hit Russia where it hurts now.
"It is not about tanks but banks because every war needs money," he says.
"You cannot continue war, you cannot even launch an aggressive law unless you have resources and it's very unfortunate that Putin was able to allocate enormous financial reserves - he's sitting on the war chest of hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars."
The human rights advocate says China is watching events unfold and if Putin is allowed to succeed, "Taiwan might be next".
So what can New Zealand do?
"It's not about the size of the country, it's about freedom," Kasparov says.
"New Zealand is a representative of a free world and it's very important that it joins the consort of free nations to send a signal. It's not about Ukraine, it's about the whole world because if Putin succeeds in Ukraine something can happen much closer to you."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern later told Breakfast she agrees with Kasparov that the "world needs to take a stand" against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and that New Zealand has been strong on condemning the attacks.
She says New Zealand is not in the same position as other nations for deploying military aid, but is supporting humanitarian efforts.
Actions taken by the New Zealand Government include targeted travel bans, the prohibition of the export of goods to Russian military and security forces, and the suspension of bilateral foreign ministry consultations until further notice.
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