The head of the Ukrainian embassy in Brazil, Anatoli Tkach, this Monday (28) countered the statements of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) – who said the day before that Brazil must remain neutral in the conflict in Eastern Europe – and said that the Brazilian leader is ill-informed.
“Perhaps it would be interesting for him to talk to the Ukrainian president to see another position and have a more objective view. We are in a very delicate moment, when we are deciding the future not only of Ukraine, but also of Europe and the world,” said Tkach, during a press conference in Brasilia.
On Sunday (27), Bolsonaro said that Brazil should adopt a stance of neutrality in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We cannot interfere. We want peace, but we cannot bring consequences here,” the president told reporters at a hotel in Guarujá (SP).
For the Ukrainian diplomat, Bolsonaro lacks information. “He has pronounced himself neutral, so I think he may be misinformed and not know the current situation in Ukraine,” he said. “It’s not about supporting Ukraine, it’s about supporting democratic values, international law, including fundamentals such as non-violation of borders, respect for international sovereignty, the state and territorial integrity.”
Despite Tkach having suggested a conversation between Bolsonaro and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, the head of the diplomatic mission said there is still no forecast of such a contact. He also countered two other statements made by Bolsonaro on Sunday.
The Brazilian mocked the fact that Zelensky had been a comedian before assuming the presidency and said it was an exaggeration to characterize what is happening in Ukraine as a “massacre”.
“Our president is democratically elected, no matter what his profession was before he was elected. Now he is a leader of the nation and he is leading the war against the second largest army in the world,” Tkach said. “I will ask our officials to release more videos of civilian losses in Ukraine,”
On February 16, during a visit to Moscow, Bolsonaro met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the time, he expressed his solidarity with Russia, in what was interpreted as an endorsement of the military mobilization ordered by Moscow on the borders with Ukraine.
This Monday, Tkach again asked for more statements from the Brazilian government in condemnation of Russia’s military action.
“We would like greater support and greater condemnation by Brazil of Russia. We have to stop this aggression,” he said.
He also said he hoped that Brazil would continue to maintain its recent positions at the UN (United Nations) – the Bolsonaro government supported a resolution against Russia in the Security Council and endorsed that the Ukrainian crisis be discussed at the General Assembly, in another setback. to Moscow.
In his last demonstration at the UN Security Council, on Friday (25), the Brazilian ambassador to the organization, Ronaldo Costa Filho, made a harsh speech against Russia.
“The security concerns expressed by the Russian Federation in recent years, especially those related to strategic partners in Europe, do not give it the right to threaten the territorial integrity and sovereignty of another state,” said the Brazilian diplomat at the time.
On Monday, however, his speech at the General Assembly was less hostile against Moscow.
Although he maintained his condemnation of the “use of force against the territory of a member state”, Costa Filho cited Russian security concerns that had been met with discredit in recent years and took a stand against unilateral sanctions and the sending of weapons to Kiev.
