Mercosur rejects Zelenskiy’s request to speak at its leaders’ summit

The Common Market of the South (Mercosur), which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, has not given permission for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to deliver a speech at its summit to be held tomorrow Thursday in Asuncion.

“There was no unanimity. The ambassador of Ukraine in Argentina and Paraguay was informed. The foreign minister himself conveyed it to him,” said Raul Cano, the deputy foreign minister of Paraguay, the country that will host the meeting.

Cano reminded that all Mercosur decisions are taken unanimously. He did not specify which country(s) opposed the Ukrainian president’s request. “I don’t know which country disagreed. We can’t reveal which country didn’t agree,” he added.

Last week Zelenskiy contacted Mario Abdo, the president of Paraguay, to ask for the opportunity to address the summit via video call. The summit will be held tomorrow after the regular meeting of the Mercosur Common Market Council ends today.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has said his country will remain “neutral” in the war between Russia and Ukraine. A few days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he had visited Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In late June, in a phone call with Putin, Bolsonaro elicited Moscow’s commitment to continue supplying Brazil with fertilizer, vital to the country’s agricultural industry, without interruption. And in mid-July, he said he plans to buy as much diesel as he can from Russia, despite sanctions against it.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez had also visited Moscow in early February. The day after the war began, Brazil and Argentina abstained from supporting the Organization of American States declaration condemning the Russian invasion.

SOURCE: AMPE