If President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) goal was to attract attention, he finally succeeded. US and European government officials have brushed off his accusations that Ukraine and its allies are co-responsible for the war.
And the G-7 issued a statement warning of “serious costs” for countries that help Russia evade sanctions and maintain its war effort.
Over the last few months, one of the topics the Brazilian president spoke about the most, often out of context and without being provoked, was his desire to mediate the war in Ukraine. He was ignored by the world press, since the world does not see Brazil as a relevant player in this type of issue – and would prefer to continue listening to the new government in Brasília about the Amazon.
In Beijing, China, and Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, and when receiving Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Brasília, Lula abandoned Brazil’s supposed neutrality: he accused the allies of fomenting war by sending weapons to Ukraine, and the Ukrainians themselves to have also started the war, on the side of Russia.
The European Union (EU) ambassador in Brasilia, Ignacio Ibáñez, denied that Europe and the US had an interest in the war. “We have an aggressor country and a country attacked”, said the diplomat, in an exclusive interview with CNN this Tuesday (18).
“The Charter of the United Nations is very clear: we have to be on the side of the attacked country, help Ukraine to defend itself. Like all wars, it has an easy solution: if the aggressor, which is Russia, withdraws from the invaded territory, peace will come quickly”.
“The European position is the same as that of the United States,” continued Ibáñez. “Of course we are engaged in peace and we want peace. It is the great obsession of the EU. We are suffering from war within our own continent. We are looking for many solutions, but to find the solutions you have to go to the root of the problem, which is clearly Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, an aggression that has no justification.”
According to the Spanish diplomat, it is necessary “to go back in history to the time of the aggressions of the colonial powers, and in the case of Russia, not only the Soviet Union, but the Russian Empire, this vocation of occupying more territories, in this case the Ukrainian one”.
Regarding the costs mentioned by the G-7 to the countries that help Russia, Ibáñez preferred not to adopt a threatening tone: “The EU has been posing since the beginning that this problem has to be solved with the support of the international community as a whole. So, we will always look for allies, countries that understand the challenges that this Russian aggression is causing in all areas. I think that the central scope of all our work must always be the United Nations and I think we have achieved very good results there”.
“We have always had Brazil within this large part of the international community”, praised the Spanish diplomat.
“The G-20, the G-7 are areas that we want to use as well. There we have gathered a clear perception of the challenge it is to let a country like Russia not respect the Charter of the United Nations. This goes for the whole world. If we look at each of our regions, we have situations where if you let a country by the use of force not respect the Charter, we will certainly have repetitions of situations like the one in Europe in the future. That’s why the G-7 wants to have a firm position. We will maintain this position clearly.”
“We want to continue counting on Brazil”, said Ibáñez, recalling that, upon receiving the president of Romania, Klaus Werner Iohannis, this Tuesday in Brasília, Lula condemned the invasion of Ukraine. “That is the message we want to hear from Brazil, and we will continue to work with Brazil, a strategic partner of the EU.
We share so many things, such as the value of democracy, respect for the rules of the international community, which is the Charter of the United Nations, and naturally we want to establish that trust between the EU and Brazil.”
On Monday (17), the spokesman for the American National Security Council, Admiral John Kirby, said that Brazil was “parroting” Russia’s positions on Ukraine. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre returned to the charge on Tuesday.
“The US has no objection to any country trying to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, a war they [os russos] started, a war of their choice,” the spokeswoman said.
“But we were shaken by the tone of the comments at that foreign minister’s press conference yesterday, which were not one of neutrality, suggesting that the US and Europe are not interested in peace, or that we share responsibility for war,” Jean-Pierre continued. , getting confused when referring to Lula’s statements. “We believe this is completely wrong. Of course we want an end to this war.”
The spokeswoman continued, “The US and Europe have engaged to prevent this war since mid-2021 and efforts have continued since the beginning of this war. Unfortunately Russia has shown no interest in putting an end to this unprovoked invasion.”
The 29 pages of the final communiqué of the G-7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Japan do not mention Brazil, and Latin America is item 11, after Africa.
But a message was included that could be addressed, among others, to Brazil, which increased its imports of Russian products by 38%, reaching US$ 7.85 billion last year.
Brazil also refused a request from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to repatriate ammunition from Leopard tanks to be sent to Ukraine. In addition, it has strengthened relations with Russia, with the visit of President Celso Amorim’s special advisor to Moscow and the visit of the Russian Foreign Minister to Brasília.
“We reaffirm our commitment to support Ukraine for as long as necessary and to provide sustained security, economic and institutional support to help Ukraine defend itself, secure its free and democratic future and deter future Russian aggression,” the statement begins.
“We remain committed to intensifying sanctions against Russia, coordinating and fully enforcing them, including through the Enforcement Coordination Mechanism, and countering attempts by Russia and third parties to evade and undermine our sanctions measures,” the text continues. . “We reiterate our call to third parties to cease Russia’s war assistance or face severe costs. We will strengthen our coordination to prevent and respond to third parties supplying Russia with weapons, and we will continue to take action against those who materially support Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
Lula will have the opportunity to directly hear the opinions of the G-7 leaders on this and other issues.
Brazil was invited to participate in the group’s summit meeting, on May 19 and 20 in Japan. Perhaps the invitation will not be repeated in the coming years, if he continues to align himself with Russia and China, another country that worries the group.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
