President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) once again drew a non-existent inference between his visit to Moscow and the announcement of the withdrawal of part of the Russian troops that were exercising around Ukraine, which leads the West to accuse Vladimir Putin of wanting to invade the neighboring country. .
Speaking to journalists at the end of his agenda in Moscow, which included a two-hour meeting with Putin in the Kremlin, Bolsonaro said: “Some countries thought we shouldn’t come. We kept to our agenda, coincidentally or not, part of the troops left the border.” .
“My reading of President Putin is that he is also a person who seeks peace,” he said.
The countries mentioned are the USA, which made efforts to try to prevent the visit, which, moreover, recovered a previous line of the Itamaraty of seeking equidistance from great powers — which had been broken by Bolsonaro himself, in the administration ended last year of Ernesto Araújo as area minister.
This is the second time the president has suggested such nonsense. The announcement of the withdrawal of troops took place on Tuesday morning (15), Moscow time, made by the Russian Defense Ministry shortly before the meeting between Prime Minister Olaf Scholz, of Germany, with Putin.
Hours later, still on a flight to Moscow, Bolsonaro posted on Facebook a photo of the news about the withdrawal and three sentences: “We are already in Russian airspace”, “Fuso: + 6 hours”, “Good morning everyone”.
It was enough to start, in Bolsonarista networks, a boost of messages and memes associating Bolsonaro with Putin’s decision, which is being contested as untrue until now by the US and NATO (Western military alliance).
His son Eduardo, federal deputy for the PL-SP, gave the password and promoted the hashtags “BolsonaroEvitouaGuerra” and “BolsonaroNobelda Paz”. There were, of course, reactions in the opposite direction, ridiculing the president.
In the conversation, Bolsonaro minimized the “timing” of his visit and said what he had said before, that he only supports countries that want peace. He again said that “all countries have problems”.
Asked if he had sent any message to Ukraine, he left the makeshift pulpit and tried to interrupt the interview.
He returned, also responding that he had done “everything that had been agreed” in terms of RT-PCR tests to detect the new coronavirus.
He spoke about the business discussed during the trip, in particular the mutual interest in fertilizers of the two countries: Russia is a major producer and Brazil, an importer. A deactivated Petrobras factory in Minas will be purchased by a Russian group to establish a firm line between inputs and final product.
Bolsonaro also used the usual matrimonial metaphor to talk about his short and risky visit, just over a day. “More than a perfect marriage, the feeling I take to Brazil” from the meeting with Putin.
He flies this Thursday (17) to Hungary, where he meets with the country’s leaders, including Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a star of the conservative populist world circuit. Then he returns to Brazil the same day.
