2023-04-18 23:44:29
19.04.2023
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after John Kirby accused him of “parroting” Russian and Chinese propaganda about the US encouraging war.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva condemned this Tuesday (04.18.2023) during an official speech the “violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine”, after a harsh crossover of statements with the United States over the conflict.
A spokesman for the White House accused Brazil on Monday to “parrot” Russian propaganda about the war, after Lula said during a trip to Beijing the weekend that the United States needs to “stop fueling” hostilities.
The leftist president had also reiterated that Ukraine shares blame for the war with Russia, something kyiv vehemently rejects.
“At the same time that my government condemns the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, we defend a negotiated political solution to the conflict,” Lula said while speaking during a lunch with authorities in honor of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is visiting Brasilia. .
“Brazil is parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without looking at the facts at all,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Monday, without mentioning Lula.
On Tuesday, President Lula da Silva’s main foreign policy adviser, Celso Amorim, described the statements as “absurd.”
“To say that it ‘parrots’ the Russian position is totally absurd. We have several points of convergence (with Russia), but at various times Brazil condemned, during the current government, the invasion of Ukraine,” Celso Amorim, also former Foreign Minister of Brazil during Lula’s first two terms (2003-2010), told GloboNews channel.
Kirby’s statements rejected by Brazil
“President Lula has always insisted that the use of force and the issue of territorial integrity of States, in the UN Charter as a whole, are fundamental principles. So we are absolutely not condescending to that,” Amorim added. .
The US spokesman’s statements had already been rejected on Monday by Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, after receiving Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Brasilia.
“I don’t know how or why [Kirby] came to that conclusion. But I don’t agree in any way,” Vieira told reporters after the meeting between Lula and Lavrov at Alvorada’s official residence in Brasilia.
The exchange of statements and Lavrov’s visit occur at a time when Brazil promotes international mediation for the war in Ukraine, presenting itself as a neutral intermediary.
However, it has caused concern over what some in the United States and Europe see as anti-Western stances.
Leaving Beijing on Saturday, Lula, who returned to power in January, affirmed that “the United States must stop encouraging the war” and that the North American country and Europe “begin to talk about peace.”
During his visit to Brasilia, Lavrov “thanked” Brazil’s efforts to mediate the conflict.
mg (afp, Archyde.com)
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