The Brazilian leader’s latest remarks were just a creative reaffirmation of his objectively existing and easily verifiable position towards this conflict. Nothing actually changed, but he’s now expressing himself in a somewhat different way designed to deflect from criticisms of his political alignment with the US against Russia. His chief foreign policy advisor’s visit to Moscow late last month therefore didn’t result in Brazil recalibrating its policy like some hoped, but only changed how Lula articulated his stance.
Brazilian President Lula made headlines across the world once again after his latest remarks on the NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine, which followed his chief foreign policy advisor’s previously unreported visit to Moscow late last month. Some predicted that Amorim’s trip would result in Lula reconsidering the wisdom of politically aligning with the US against Russia in that conflict, but those hopes were dashed by his most recent comments, which prove that his position hasn’t changed.
Before explaining why nobody should be fooled by what he just said, it’s important that readers are informed of his stance as it objectively exists as proven by easily verifiable facts derived from official sources. He became the first BRICS leader to personally condemn Russia in his joint statement with Biden from early February, which can be read in full at the White House website here. Meanwhile, the UN website proves that Brazil voted for an anti-Russian UNGA Resolution later that same month here.
Lula then called Zelensky, during which time the first’s official website confirmed his condemnation of Russia’s special operation here while the latter’s official one confirmed that they discussed Kiev’s so-called “peace formula” here, which involves creating a “special tribunal” for prosecuting Russia. Brazil’s vote at the UNSC in support of investigating the Nord Stream terrorist attack doesn’t change that, nor does his misreported statement to the “Summit for Democracy”, which were analyzed here and here.
The second preceding hyperlink includes a list of nearly thirty prior analyses on the subject of Lula’s foreign policy, while this one here explains his grand strategy and Russia’s role therein. Intrepid readers should review those resources if they aspire to understand his true stance towards this proxy war, which his been twisted by his supporters on social media to falsely misportray it as secretly being “Russian-friendly” as explained at length here per the weaponized conspiracy theory that they’re propagating.
The information contained in the official White House, UN, Brazilian Presidency, and Ukrainian Presidency websites that were previously cited prove that Lula is politically aligned with the US against Russia in this conflict. Those readers who don’t delusionally deny these facts will appreciate the insight that’ll now follow explaining why they shouldn’t be fooled by Lula’s latest words. About them, the reputable Metropoles online newspaper reported on what he said here.
Their article is in Portuguese but can be read in whichever language one prefers by using Google Translate. Upon doing so, they’ll see how divorced Lula is from the reality of this proxy war. According to him, the conflict “is already over”, despite all sides preparing for Kiev’s upcoming counteroffensive that its patrons have already invested tens of billions of dollars’ worth of military aid in organizing. To dismiss Russian, Ukrainian, and Western reports about this impending development like he just did is dishonest.
Lula then claimed that both sides are supposedly waiting for an external actor to mediate peace between them, which also isn’t true since the Turkish peace process remains frozen while China’s recent attempts to start its own one haven’t gotten off the ground. Furthermore, Russian presidential spokesman Peskov confirmed just the other week that Moscow believes that military means are presently the only way to resolve this conflict since “politico-diplomatic (ones) are currently impossible”.
The Brazilian leader would have been aware of this reality after being briefed about Russia’s current position following Amorim’s previously unreported visit to Moscow around the same time as Peskov’s statement, thus raising serious questions about why he’d publicly say something so counterfactual. Moving along, the next point that Lula made was that “Putin cannot take the land in Ukraine”, except perhaps Crimea, but that “Zelensky can’t have everything he thinks he wants either”.
This approach goes against Russia’s constitutional prohibition on ceding any of its territory such as those former Ukrainian regions that reunified with their historic homeland following last September’s referenda. It also contradicts Brazil’s support for the previously mentioned anti-Russian UNGA Resolution from late February, which demands Russia’s full and immediate withdrawal from all the territory that Kiev claims as its own, thus also implying Crimea.
Lula’s suggestion that NATO shouldn’t deploy on Russia’s border has been spun by his supporters as bravely defying the West, but it’s really just a vapid talking point. After all, that bloc already counts the Baltic States and Poland as members, which practically surround Kaliningrad and abut so-called “mainland Russia”. Finland also just joined this week too, thus doubling the NATO-Russian frontline. Lula knows this so his associated rhetoric should be seen solely in the context of manipulating perceptions.
He appears to have been advised to say something symbolic and unsubstantial, which can then be propagated to misportray him as “neutral” even though the objectively existing and easily verifiable facts from official sources that were earlier shared prove that he’s politically aligned against Russia. This insight prompts suspicions about his intent to cooperate with China in promoting peace since those two are poles apart when it comes to their envisaged end game as explained at length here.
Just like French President Macron failed to sway his Chinese counterpart towards the West’s side, so too will Lula fail as well, with the only difference between him and Macron being that the Brazilian leader is functioning as the West’s Trojan Horse in this role while nobody doubts the French one’s motives. The next part of his latest remarks to debunk concerns Lula’s criticism of the West for not exhausting peace negotiations prior to intervening on Kiev’s side in this conflict.
Former German Chancellor Merkel already admitted late last year that the West never had any intention of seriously encouraging Kiev to implement the Minsk Accords since these were really just a ruse for buying time ahead of its preplanned NATO-backed final offensive against Donbass. President Putin lamented that he was duped and said that this revelation further justifies the special operation, which he reminded everyone was to defend Donbass from genocide and stop the war that the West started.
Lula would also have been briefed about this reality as well after Amorim’s latest trip to Moscow, thus meaning that he’s deliberately dismissing what he was told about Russia’s reasons for its special operation. It’s therefore implied that he doesn’t extend credence to his BRICS partner’s claims in this regard, which is very disrespectful and unfriendly. As such, observers can conclude that this was another of Lula’s symbolic and unsubstantial claims intended to manipulate perceptions about his policy.
The Brazilian leader’s latest remarks were therefore just a creative reaffirmation of his objectively existing and easily verifiable position towards this conflict. Nothing actually changed, but he’s now expressing himself in a somewhat different way designed to deflect from criticisms of his political alignment with the US against Russia. His chief foreign policy advisor’s visit to Moscow didn’t result in Brazil recalibrating its policy like some hoped, but only changed how Lula articulated his stance.
Those spinning his recent rhetoric as “anti-Western” and “Russian-friendly” either don’t truly understand what he just said or are purposely trying to manipulate perceptions about his policy. Nobody should be fooled by Lula since he’s still politically aligned with the US against Russia in the most geostrategically significant conflict since World War II, he just nowadays understands the importance of employing symbolic and unsubstantial rhetoric to disguise this “inconvenient” reality.