Brazil is facing a backlash from western nations and Ukraine after president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva claimed Kyiv bore responsibility for the war there and accused Washington of “encouraging” the conflict.
Brazil this week rolled out the red carpet for Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov after Lula said at the weekend that the “decision for war [in Ukraine] was taken by both countries” and that Europe and the US were partly responsible for prolonging the conflict.
The comments, made in the United Arab Emirates, drew a rebuke from Ukraine, which on Tuesday invited Lula to visit the country to understand “the true causes of Russian aggression and its consequences for global security”.
The White House also responded forcefully, with a spokesperson for the National Security Council accusing Lula of “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda”.
“It’s deeply problematic how Brazil has substantively and rhetorically approached the decision by suggesting that the US and Europe are somehow not interested in peace,” said John Kirby, adding that Lula’s remarks were “simply misguided”.
The dispute points to growing tension between the west and Brazil, which has sought to return to an unaligned foreign policy since Lula was elected for a third term late last year.
Critics see Latin America’s largest country as tilting towards Beijing and Moscow, particularly after Brasília welcomed Lavrov to the capital for an official visit on Monday.
Standing beside Brazilian foreign minister Mauro Vieira, Lavrov said Brazil and Russia shared “consonant positions” on current world events and praised Lula for his attempts to build a “peace club” of countries to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Vieira said the two nations had agreed to deepen and diversify trade relations, which are now worth about $10bn. Much of the fertiliser for Brazil’s booming agribusiness sector — worth almost 30 per cent of GDP — comes from Russia.
Vieira also rejected the criticism from the White House.
In line with its traditional non-aligned stance in international affairs, Brasília has remained officially neutral on the Ukraine war. It has not joined economic sanctions against Russia and has refused to supply ammunition to Kyiv.
Lula has sought to position himself as a potential peacemaker and last week raised the possibility of the so-called “peace club” when he met Chinese president Xi Jinping.
“The US needs to stop encouraging the war and start to talk about peace,” Lula said.
He said Brazil wanted to work with China to “balance world geopolitics” and said there was a need for an alternative currency to the dollar for use in trade.
Mario Marconini, managing director at Teneo in Brazil, said: “Major western powers will certainly pay more attention to Brazil henceforth, but Lula may be losing political capital in taking positions that distance Brazil from its more traditional inclination towards neutrality.”
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