The head of the Ukrainian embassy in Brazil, Anatoliy Tkach, said on Monday (21) that he hopes the Brazilian government will contradict the Russian government and not recognize the independence of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine. The statement was given in an interview with BBC News Brasil.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia recognized the independence of the two regions and that he planned to send troops to the region.
“[Espero] the non-recognition of these territories. The Brazilian government has always positioned itself in favor of our integrity within internationally recognized borders,” said Tkach.
Asked whether the Brazilian government should then take a stand against the Russian government, the Ukrainian diplomat said “yes”.
“Yea. [Esperamos] the same position that the Brazilian government has taken with regard to Crimea. The Brazilian government did not recognize Crimea. In the same way I hope it will not recognize the territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions,” said the diplomat.
Tkach’s mention of the Crimea region dates back to 2014, when Putin annexed the Crimean peninsula, a region that had belonged to Ukraine since the 1950s. At the time, the Brazilian government, led by then-President Dilma Rousseff (PT), did not recognize the annexation, but neither did it condemn it.
The announcement that the Russian government would recognize the independence of the two Ukrainian separatist regions took place on Monday afternoon (21), Brazilian time. Several countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have already announced that they will impose sanctions in reaction to the measure taken by Putin.
Brazil, however, has not yet officially expressed the matter. BBC News Brasil sent questions about the Brazilian government’s position on the matter, but so far the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not commented.
Tkach’s statements come five days after the Brazilian president made an official visit to Russia and met with Putin. Not to mention the crisis on the border between Russia and Ukraine, Jair Bolsonaro said he was “solidarity” with Russia and that he believed Putin “seeks” peace.
“I understand President Putin’s reading that he is a person who seeks peace. And any conflict does not interest anyone in the world,” Bolsonaro said.
At another point, Bolsonaro stated that Brazil was in solidarity with any country as long as it sought peace and again said that he believed this was the case for the Russian president.
“I told him that Brazil is a country that supports any other country and is solidary as long as it seeks peace. And that is his intention,” he said.
Asked whether he agreed with the content of Bolsonaro’s statements about Putin, the Ukrainian diplomat preferred not to go into detail.
“I think this is an issue between the two presidents and it would not be up to me to speak out,” he said.
understand the crisis
The announcement of recognition of the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk is the latest episode in the crisis on Ukraine’s border with Russia.
At least two months ago, the Russian government had sent approximately 100,000 troops to the region and demanded that Ukraine not be included in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The military alliance was created after the Second World War as a way to contain the advance of the former Soviet bloc.
In recent days, US and British government officials have been announcing that a Russian military incursion into Ukrainian territory was “imminent”.
The Russian government, however, had been denying any intention to invade Ukraine.
After Putin’s announcement about the recognition of the two separatist regions, Russian troops are planned to be sent on the grounds that they would be peacekeepers.
At a government meeting on Monday, senior members of the Putin government said it was necessary to protect Russian citizens in this area.
The European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States have already said that they are planning sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the Russian government in this context.
US President Joe Biden called his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and said he reaffirms “the United States’ commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”. The White House also reported that Biden is in contact with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Ukraine has requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting over what its foreign minister called on Twitter “illegal actions” by Russia.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was considering sending “more defensive support” to the Ukrainians.
Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko told the BBC’s Newsnight program that “when a nuclear nation is calling your nation a historic mistake that needs to be fixed, yes, you have to worry about what it [Putin] have in mind”.
Putin’s speech
In his speech, Putin said that “the situation in Donbass [região onde estão localizadas Donetsk e Luhansk] became critical”.
During the nearly hour-long speech on Russian TV, the Russian president claimed that modern Ukraine was “created” by Russia.
“For Russia, Ukraine is not just a neighboring country, but part of our history, our comrades and relatives,” he said.
Putin also claimed that Russia was “robbed” with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He declared that “America used Ukraine and Georgia [outra ex-república soviética] to implement anti-Russian policies”.
He also claimed that the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had turned Ukraine into a “theater of war”.
The Russian leader has been demanding assurances that NATO will not admit Ukraine, while the Western alliance denies that eventual membership poses any threat to Moscow.
