The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, in a note released this Saturday (19), that it regrets the content of the statements made by White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki, about the speech in which President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said he was in solidarity with the Russia.
“Brazil’s positions on the situation in Ukraine are clear, public and have been repeatedly transmitted to the authorities of friendly countries and expressed within the ambit of the United Nations Security Council,” the Itamaraty said in the statement.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not consider similar extrapolations regarding the president’s speech to be constructive, nor useful, therefore.”
Bolsonaro’s statement took place in the opening speech that preceded a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, last Wednesday (16). At the time, the Brazilian said he was in solidarity with Russia — without specifying in what aspect he manifested himself.
Moscow is at the center of one of the biggest security crises in the world since the end of the Cold War, after deploying troops to areas close to Ukraine. The neighboring country, the US and NATO have accused Putin of planning a military invasion, which he denies.
At a press conference this Friday (18), a journalist asked Psaki if the US government felt betrayed by Bolsonaro for showing solidarity with Russia. The spokeswoman stated that she had not spoken to President Joe Biden on the matter, but that she saw Brazil as being on the opposite side of the majority of the global community.
“I would say the vast majority of the global community is united, in a shared vision, that invading another country, trying to take away some of its territory and terrorizing the population is certainly not in line with global values,” he said. “So I think Brazil seems to be on the other side of where most of the global community is.”
The previous day, in a note sent to journalists, a US State Department spokesperson had already criticized the Brazilian president’s pronouncement.
“The moment when the president of Brazil expressed solidarity with Russia, just when Russian forces are preparing to launch attacks on Ukrainian cities, could not be worse,” said the text, signed by a spokeswoman for US diplomacy. “This undermines international diplomacy aimed at averting a strategic and humanitarian disaster, as well as Brazil’s own calls for a peaceful solution to the crisis.”
The agency also said that there is a “false narrative” that the Biden administration would have asked Brazil to choose between the US and Russia. “That is not the case. This is a matter of Brazil, as a major country, appearing to ignore armed aggression by a major power against a smaller neighboring country, a stance inconsistent with Brazil’s historical emphasis on peace and diplomacy.”
On Wednesday, Bolsonaro also tried to downplay the issue of the timing of his visit and repeated that he only supports “governments that want peace”, saying again that “all countries have problems”.
“Some countries thought we shouldn’t come. We kept our agenda, coincidentally or not, part of the troops left the border,” he told reporters, hours after the bilateral meeting. “My reading of President Putin is that he is also a person who seeks peace.”
In Brasilia, Brazilian diplomats admitted that the term “solidarity” used by Bolsonaro was bad, but they see an exaggeration in the American response. Privately, they say the president has chosen his words poorly, in an impromptu speech that should not be taken literally.
