German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Brazil’s newly appointed President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva argued late Monday over who is responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as the latter suggested Kyiv may also be at fault .
Scholz arrived in the capital Brasilia late on Monday as part of a South American trip aimed at pursuing a long-delayed visit. EU-MERCOSUR trade and political cooperation agreementand to rally the countries of the Global South behind the West’s support for Ukraine.
Yet over Ukraine, Scholz received a brutal rebuff.
After a cordial start to a joint press conference in which Brazil’s president said he wanted to finalize an EU trade deal “by the end of the current semester”, the mood soured when Lula raised the war in Ukraine and Germany’s appeal was rejected. To support Kyiv with weapons and ammunition.
“If one doesn’t want to, two can’t fight,” Lula told reporters, adding that Ukraine also had a role in Russia’s invasion.
Lula said, “I think the reason for the war between Russia and Ukraine should also be clear. Is it because of NATO? Is it because of territorial claims? Is it because of entry into Europe? Let the world know about it.” I have very little information.” ,
While he said that Russia made “a classic mistake” by invading the territory of Ukraine, he also argued that neither side was showing sufficient desire to resolve the war through negotiations: “No one can move a millimeter Don’t want to back down,” he said.
The leftist president’s remarks could be read as an insult, especially to Western leaders who hailed Lula’s election last year as an opportunity to lead Brazil out of the international isolation established by former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.
Scholz – one of the first foreign leaders to visit the country since Lula’s inauguration earlier this month – said at the first press conference, “We are all happy that Brazil is back on the world stage.”
Following Lula’s comments on Ukraine, the German Chancellor said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was not only a European problem, but a “gross violation of international law” and would undermine “the basis for our cooperation and peace in the world”. Is.
Lula, for his part, criticized mediation efforts to date: “Up until now, I honestly haven’t heard much about reaching peace in this war.” Instead he proposed the establishment of a peace-oriented club of non-aligned countries such as China, Brazil, India and Indonesia, which he said had not yet engaged in discussions on the war.
He also dismissed the possibility that Brazil could help Ukraine deter Russian missile or drone attacks by selling its units of German-made Gepard air defense tanks with this ammunition: There is no interest that can be used in war. War between Ukraine and Russia, Lula said. “We are a country committed to peace.”
Scholz countered by arguing that Brazil’s past would have been much less peaceful if its South American neighbors were applying a similar imperialist logic as Putin is currently doing to Ukraine.
“What kind of territorial conflicts would be possible if everyone, like the Russian president, just turned pages from their history books and looked at where the border used to be? If you make that the norm, we will not have peace.” world,” he said.
Sonya Angelica Diehn and Aitor Hernández-Morales contributed reporting.