The United States government said this Friday (28) that “Brazil has a responsibility to uphold democratic principles and protect the rule-based order, and [deve] reinforce this message to Russia at every opportunity”.
The statement was given in response to questions from BBC News Brasil about the visit of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to Russian President Vladimir Putin, scheduled for February. The trip was confirmed yesterday by Bolsonaro, amid an escalation of military tensions on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
“He [Putin] yes it is conservative. I’ll be there next month, looking for better understandings, commercial relations. The whole world is nice to us,” Bolsonaro told supporters this Thursday (27), in front of Palácio da Alvorada.
For months, the Russians have stationed troops at strategic points near Ukrainian territory and demanded a ban on Ukraine’s entry into NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
On the other hand, the US and members of the military alliance promise to help Ukraine, which they have supplied with weapons, and US President Joe Biden has 8,500 US troops on standby to send to bases in the Baltic countries if Moscow continues forward with some war initiative in the region.
Brazil is now a non-NATO American military ally — a title granted to the country during Donald Trump’s administration — and, last year, it received an endorsement from the United States to become a global partner of the military alliance, which would expand even more access. Brazilians to armaments and joint military training.
In addition, the country has just assumed a temporary seat on the UN Security Council. Just over two weeks ago, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos França by phone about what the US State Department said were “shared priorities, including the need for a strong and united against further Russian aggression against Ukraine”.
The Itamaraty confirmed in a note that Ukraine was part of the conversation between the ministers, however, with much less emphasis on the subject than that given by the Americans.
Despite the matter being part of the dialogue, the Americans were not communicated through diplomatic channels by the Brazilians about the trip. “We are aware of the trip [de Bolsonaro à Rússia] because of public information,” a spokesperson for the US State Department told BBC News Brazil.
The US government also said that “the US and a significant number of countries are concerned about the destabilizing role that Russia is playing in the region.”
Asked what would be the content of the agenda discussed by the Brazilian president with Putin and whether, as a non-NATO ally, he will position himself on the conflict between Russia and the countries of the alliance, the Itamaraty only recommended that BBC News Brazil consult the Palácio do Planalto.
Planalto responded to the report that it has no details of the trip so far and did not comment on the State Department’s statements.
Privately, a Brazilian diplomat told BBC News Brazil that the country deals in a “sovereign” way with its interests, “without having to ask any other country for authorization” and, historically, “talks to everyone, without this meaning agreeing with everything the interlocutor does”.
Commodities e Telegram
Unlike the US and China, Russia is not a major trade ally for Brazil—it is not even among the top ten partners. Among Brazilian products, the Russians import soy, animal protein, sugar, coffee and tobacco. On the other hand, they export agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, potash and urea to Brazil.
In recent years, while increasing barriers to protect Brazilian products such as beef, they have shown interest in investing in the Angra 3 Nuclear Power Plant and in infrastructure works, such as port terminals.
The talks on bilateral trade agreements have never progressed satisfactorily and there is currently no expectation, at least on the Brazilian side, that such a treaty can be signed between the two countries.
To supporters, in addition to generically talking about advancing “understandings” and “trade relations”, Bolsonaro cited the Russian messaging app Telegram. The network, one of the favorites for communication with voters by the Bolsonaro family, became the target of actions by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), concerned about the potential of the application for the mass dissemination of disinformation. Unlike other platforms, Telegram does not have an office in Brazil.
“It’s dealing with it, it’s dealing with the matter there”, said Bolsonaro, when asked about Telegram. “We are seeing here the cowardice that they are trying to do with Brazil. Cowardice, right”, said the president, who is against the restrictions imposed on the application by the Justice.
Sympathy between Putin and Bolsonaro
The sympathy between Putin and Bolsonaro is not recent. In 2020, during the Brics Summit, a bloc composed of the two countries, plus China, India and South Africa, the Russian president said that the Brazilian head of state had “the best masculine qualities”.
“You expressed the best masculine qualities and determination. You sought the solution of all questions, first of all based on the interests of your people, your country, leaving for later the solutions related to your personal health problems. This is for all of us an example of a courageous relationship with the fulfillment of his duty and the execution of his obligations as head of state”, said Putin, regarding Bolsonaro’s management of the pandemic, which generated international criticism of the Brazilian.
In December, shortly after the Brazilian chancellor’s visit to Russia, Putin formalized an invitation to Bolsonaro to visit the Kremlin. “We will be happy to see the president of Brazil in Russia,” he told Russian state agency Tass, adding that Brazil is “one of the most strategic countries” with which Russia maintains relations. Faced with the invitation, Bolsonaro said he was “very happy, very honored” and said it was a window of opportunity.
“Let’s get ready to make this visit an opportunity to leverage our economy,” said the president in December of last year.
Diplomats and foreign trade experts see the visit as a political attempt by Bolsonaro to show domestic voters that he has high-level international interlocutors.
For Putin, who accuses the Americans of approaching his territory militarily, welcoming the president of Latin America’s largest country is an asset while the rest of the West hardens its position against him. Before the Brazilian, Putin will also receive Argentine President Alberto Fernandez in February.
Contrary to the wishes of the United States, Brazil is unlikely to issue any public or private admonition to Putin. In 2014, when the Russians annexed the then-Ukrainian Crimea, Brazil, at the time chaired by Dilma Rousseff, completely omitted from the conflict.
In 2015, Brazil became one of the supporters of the UN Security Council Resolution 2022, which deals with the Minsk Accords to end the conflict between pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine’s armed forces in the eastern portion of the country. Ukrainian territory. However, the agreements, which provided for the withdrawal of heavy weapons and respect for the ceasefire, were repeatedly flouted.
