U.S. criticizes Lula's Ukraine stance
April 18, 2023
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Brasília, yesterday. The meeting followed statements by Lula this weekend blaming both Russia and Ukraine for the ongoing conflict between the two countries, and blaming the U.S. for encouraging hostilities.
The statements, which followed Lula’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, sparked angry pushback from the U.S.: “Brazil has substantively and rhetorically approached this issue by suggesting that the United States and Europe are somehow not interested in peace or that we share responsibility for the war,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, yesterday. “In this case, Brazil is parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without at all looking at the facts.” He described Lula's message on the war as "deeply problematic."
On Sunday, Lula told reporters in Abu Dhabi that both Russia and Ukraine had decided to go to war. A day earlier in Beijing, Lula said “it is necessary that the U.S. stops stimulating the war and talk about peace.”
The Brazilian president has sought to mediate, and has proposed creating a group of countries, including China, to sponsor peace negotiations. "We are trying to form a group of countries that have no kind of involvement with the war to talk to Russia and Ukraine, but also the U.S. and EU, to convince people that peace is the best way to establish a process of conversation," Lula said this weekend.
Lula’s stance has ruffled U.S. feathers, say analysts. (See yesterday’s post.)
Lavrov’s visit to Brasília is the first in a Latin America tour that also includes stops in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. Ahead of the visit he lauded the region’s role in a “multipolar” world.
After meeting Brazil’s foreign minister, yesterday, Lavrov told reporters that the West has engaged in “a rather tough struggle” to maintain its dominance in world affairs, including economics and geopolitics.
He said that Moscow was "grateful to our Brazilian friends for their clear understanding of the genesis of the situation.”
"We are interested in resolving the conflict as soon as possible," Lavrov said. But he added that any solution would have to be based on "multipolarity," accusing the West of "trying to dominate the international arena."
(Associated Press, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, AFP, Reuters)
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