Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this Monday (18) that he discussed with Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro (PL) the importance of negotiations to unlock the country’s grain exports in order, in his words, “to prevent against global food crisis provoked by Russia”.
Bolsonaro had said, on Thursday (14), that he would speak with Zelenski this Monday. According to the president, he would present the solution to the end of the conflict. “I’m going to give him my opinion, what I think. I know how the case would be resolved, but I’m not going to say anything. How did Argentina’s war with the United Kingdom end in 1982? That’s it,” he told CNN Brasil.
The president was referring to the Falklands War, which turned 40 in April and ended when Argentine forces surrendered to the British, who had received military support from European and US allies. It is not clear, however, whether the surrender is the suggestion that the Brazilian president would make to his Ukrainian counterpart.
The Ukrainian did not comment on that statement. In a tweet, he summed up saying that he informed Bolsonaro about the situation at the front. “I call on all our partners to join the sanctions against the aggressor,” he wrote.
This was the first time the two leaders had spoken since the beginning of the war — Bolsonaro was with Vladimir Putin in Moscow days before the invasion of Ukraine and had at least one phone call with the Russian. The Brazilian president and Itamaraty have already criticized the sanctions strategy adopted by the West to isolate the Kremlin.
The trip and the meeting with Putin were conflicting episodes in the Brazilian diplomatic agenda, with partners such as the United States criticizing them and acting to try to cancel them. The government, however, has defended neutrality in the conflict, among other reasons, due to the high dependence on fertilizers imported from Russia.
This weekend, Bolsonaro said, without giving details, that negotiations with Russia to supply diesel to Brazil at a “cheaper” price are well advanced, in an attempt to stave off the risk of shortages and contain the rise in prices. of fuels.
Russia and Ukraine should return, this week, to negotiating rounds, mediated by Turkey and the UN, to unlock grain exports.
