The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has placed under five-year secrecy reports of the trip made in February by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to Russia.
The document produced by the embassy in Moscow received the degree of secrecy reserved on February 21 of this year and can only be released from the same day in 2027. The government has also hidden the field “reasons for classification” in the TCI with a black stripe ( Information Classification Term) signed by Itamaraty.
The folder cites as a legal basis for secrecy a section of the Access to Information Law that allows restriction in cases that may “harm or jeopardize the conduct of negotiations or the country’s international relations or those that have been provided on a confidential basis.” by other States and international organizations”.
The Itamaraty informed about the secrecy on the 12th, in response to the request for information presented by the PSOL bench in the Chamber. The agency also did not detail the reasons why Rio de Janeiro councilor Carlos Bolsonaro (Republicans), son of the president, took part in the trip.
The answers were limited to saying that “the appointment of the presidential delegation is the prerogative of the Presidency of the Republic” and informed that there were no federal government expenses with the Rio politician in Russia. Bolsonaro met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 16, days before the start of the Ukrainian War.
The federal government has been criticized for imposing secrecy on information sensitive to the Bolsonaro administration.
After the Itamaraty’s response, the PSOL bench presented a request to convene Chancellor Calos França “to provide clarification” on the restriction of access to reports on trips to Russia and Hungary.
The Bolsonaro government even made secret information about meetings and visits to the Planalto Palace carried out by pastors Arilton Moura and Gilmar Santos, identified as pivots in the scandal at the Ministry of Education’s business desk. Last Thursday (14), the GSI (Institutional Security Office) backed down and said that the duo had been to the Planalto 35 times since the beginning of the government.
The government also restricted data on Carlos Bolsonaro’s visits to the Planalto. Since the first year of his term, the president has promised to open up spending on the corporate card, which has not yet been done.
In its response to the PSOL deputies, Itamaraty also said it had no knowledge of meetings between the Brazilian delegation in Russia with representatives of messaging applications, such as Telegram.
The folder also only reproduced the joint communiqué of the governments of Brazil and Russia in responses on topics covered in the conversation between Bolsonaro and Putin. On some of the topics, such as the relationship with apps or sexual and reproductive rights, the government said that the topic “is not included in the communiqué”.
The Itamaraty also attached to the response a document that shows a change in the 2018 agreement between Brazil and Russia on “mutual protection of classified information” to “update the levels of equivalence of classification of information”. The paper was signed in Moscow by the GSI minister, Augusto Heleno.
Finally, the ministry reported that it spent US$96,800 on tickets and per diem for Bolsonaro’s entourage, US$125,300 on vehicle rentals, US$9,600 on interpreters, US$12,600 on a support office. and office supplies and $890 with ceremonial.
