President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Monday (28) that Brazil will grant humanitarian visas to Ukrainian citizens, but he reaffirmed his neutral position in relation to the conflict with Russia and said he had nothing to talk to the president of the Republic of. Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I just talked to the [ministro das Relações Exteriores] Carlos France. He said he was going to make arrangements, even though it was a holiday —[mas] for us there are no holidays, we are active all the time,” Bolsonaro said in an interview with Jovem Pan’s “Pingo nos Is” program, which has a history of friendly and defensive relations between the president and the government.
“We are going to open up the possibility for Ukrainians to come to Brazil on a humanitarian visa. It is the easiest way to come here,” he said, comparing the action the government took last year with Afghans who fled the Taliban. According to the president, the measure will be published through an interministerial decree.
Bolsonaro, however, ruled out taking a stand against Russia and said that economic sanctions would affect Brazilian agribusiness, due to the importation of fertilizers from the country commanded by Vladimir Putin.
The Brazilian president went to Moscow on February 15, already in the midst of the security crisis surrounding Ukraine, and met with Putin.
“We have a huge dependence on fertilizers from Russia,” Bolsonaro said. “If there were economic sanctions [do Brasil contra a Rússia]our agribusiness will be seriously affected.”
“We have to be careful. It’s not like some want me to punch the table and [diga que] ‘Brazil is on this side or that side’ and nothing more is said. The world is interdependent, so I believe these economic sanctions are unlikely to prosper. I could be wrong about that,” he added.
The president stated that he will not “give a hint on this issue” and that Brazil has to understand that “it is a great country, but that we have some limitations and we must continue in this policy of getting closer to everyone.”
Bolsonaro said “some people” want him to talk to Zelensky, Ukraine’s president. “I currently have nothing to talk to him about,” he said. “We are dealing with one of the biggest nuclear war powers on one side [a Rússia]. The other side is Ukraine, which decided to give up its weapons [nucleares] in the past.”
The president said he hoped that the conflict would end soon and that there would be an agreement, but signaled that he would avoid taking a stand in favor of Ukraine, because “at the end of the day, who has the most arguments and wins the war?” “Who has more cannon.”
Before Bolsonaro’s interview, the head of the Ukrainian embassy in Brazil, Anatoli Tkach, rebutted the statements of the Brazilian president – who said the day before that the country must remain neutral in the conflict in Eastern Europe – and said that the Brazilian leader is misinformed. .
“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.
For the 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.”
