By Lisandra Paraguassu
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The U.S. government criticized President Jair Bolsonaro’s stance during a visit to Russia this week and his declaration of solidarity with that country, amid tensions over the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement, the US State Department said that a “false narrative” was created that US diplomatic action on Brazil on the issue would involve asking the country to choose between the US and Russia.
“That is not the case. This is a matter of Brazil, as a major country, appearing to ignore armed aggression by a major power against a smaller neighboring country, a stance inconsistent with Brazil’s historic emphasis on peace and diplomacy,” the statement reads.
On Wednesday, during his state visit to Russia, in an initial statement alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bolsonaro said he was “in solidarity with Russia”, without clarifying what he was talking about.
Later, in the joint statement, again alongside Putin, he elaborated:
“We stand in solidarity with all those countries that want and are committed to peace. We have intense collaboration (with Russia) in the main international forums such as the BRICS, the G20 and the United Nations, where we defend the sovereignty of States, respect for international law and the United Nations Charter.”
The US statement directly criticizes Bolsonaro’s speech.
“The timing of the President of Brazil to express solidarity with Russia as Russian forces are preparing to launch attacks on Ukrainian cities could not be worse. This weakens international diplomacy, aimed at avoiding a strategic and humanitarian disaster, as well as Brazilian calls for a peaceful solution to the crisis,” he points out.
Bolsonaro had been instructed not to address the possibility of a war between Russia and Ukraine and he himself had said that he would not raise the issue if Putin did not, which ended up happening not only in the conversation between the presidents, but in the meeting between the foreign ministers. Carlos França and Sergei Lavrov.
In his statement, France stated that regional issues had been addressed, but did not elaborate, while Lavrov listed a series of complaints against the United States and the European Union that he would have spoken to Brazilians during the meeting.
Later, in an interview with the Brazilian press, Bolsonaro confirmed that the matter was the subject of conversation with Putin.
“I told President Putin that Brazil supports any country that seeks peace. And that is his intention,” he said.
This Thursday, already in Budapest, he couldn’t resist talking about the subject again. This time alongside Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary, Bolsonaro said that he gave Hungarians “his impressions” of the situation in Russia and that he considered the alleged withdrawal of Russian troops from the border with Ukraine to be “a gesture” of Putin.
“War does not interest anyone,” Bolsonaro said in a joint statement alongside Orbán in Budapest.
Both the Americans and Europeans claim that there was no troop withdrawal, only an internal movement. Russia, on the other hand, has said that demobilizing military exercises takes time.
Sought after, Itamaraty and Palácio do Planalto did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the US statements.
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