After verbal fire from the US, which accuses him of “echoing Russian and Chinese propaganda”, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday categorically condemned Russia’s “violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

The day before Monday, the representative of the National Security Council of the US presidency, John Kirby, reacted in this way to statements by President Lula, who, during his visit to China, accused the US of “encouraging war” in Ukraine , judging that they should “start talking about peace”.

A position in line with those formulated by Moscow and Beijing, which blame Western countries for the war in Ukraine, which broke out in February 2022, with the Russian invasion.

Unlike Western powers, Brazil has never imposed economic sanctions on Russia over the war, nor sent weapons to Ukraine; like China, it says it seeks to play a mediating role.

Yesterday, during an event in honor of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is visiting Brasilia, Lula reiterated that he wants peace: “Condemning the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, my government seeks a political solution to the conflict through negotiations.” he said.

Lula’s top foreign policy adviser, Celso Amorim, called Mr Kerby’s remarks “absurd”. “We have points of convergence (with Russia), but Brazil has repeatedly condemned, under the current government, the invasion of Ukraine,” Mr. Amorim, who was Brazil’s Foreign Minister during Lula’s first two terms, reminded Globonews 2003-2010).

The statements of the US representative were already rejected on Monday by the current Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, after his meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov: “I don’t know either how or why (Mr. Kerby) came to this conclusion. But I don’t agree at all,” he said.

During his visit to Brasilia, Mr. Lavrov thanked Brazil “for its contribution” to the search for “a solution to this conflict.”