Brazilian leader plays a dangerous game with his pro-Russia stance in its war in Ukraine | Opinion

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s first 100 days in office have been considerably worse than many of us predicted: He’s not only failing to revamp his country’s economy, he also increasingly sides with some of the world’s most brutal dictators.

In recent days, Lula gave a red-carpet welcome to Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, whose four-country tour of Latin America also included Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.

By receiving Lavrov in a state visit marked by mutual pleasantries, Lula sabotaged world democracies’ efforts to isolate Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine and its continued bombardment there.

Just as bad, shortly before Lavrov’s visit, Lula had made the absurd claim that both Russia and Ukraine are to blame for the war. He also suggested that Ukraine should abandon its claims to Crimea, the peninsula that was part of Ukraine before Russia occupied it in 2014.

Earlier, Lula had restored ties with Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro, allowed Iranian warships to dock in Rio de Janeiro, and — while first condemning Russia at the United Nations — refused to join international sanctions against Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s regime.

It’s hard to understand how the leader of one of the world’s biggest democracies can find excuses for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia’s invasion is a blatant violation of the principle of national sovereignty that is supposed to be the bedrock of Brazil’s foreign policy.

Backing imperialism

Can there be a bigger breach of national sovereignty than invading a neighboring country? Is there a clearer example of imperialism than Russia’s military attack on Ukraine under the dubious claim that it needed to protect its “sphere of influence?”

Lula’s warm welcome of Lavrov may be part of the Brazilian president’s effort to be one of the key mediators between Russia and Ukraine, and of his campaign to put Brazil back on the world stage.

“The idea of a Ukraine peace club seems to be consuming him entirely,” says Ryan Berg, head of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Americas Program. But Lula’s recent statements on Ukraine “have made it very difficult to take Brazil seriously as a neutral arbiter on this issue,” he added.

Ukraine has dismissed Lula’s suggestion that it abandon its claims on Crimea, demanding that Russia return that peninsula before the start of any possible peace talks.

Lula’s increasingly pro-Russia stance may also be a smokescreen to divert public attention from his domestic troubles. Unlike what happened during Lula’s first two terms in office, from 2003 to 2010, Brazil’s economy is stagnant, and he doesn’t have the money to fund his ambitious social programs.

Brazil’s economy is only expected to grow by 0.9% this year, and by 1.5% next year, according to new International Monetary Fund estimates. Lula’s popularity sits at only 38%, according to a recent Datafolha poll.

A visit to Putin

Anthony Pereira, head of Florida International University’s Kimberly Green Latin American Center, reminded me that Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, wasn’t a vocal critic of Russia, either.

Bolsonaro even visited Putin in Moscow in February 2022, despite U.S. pleas that he cancel the trip because Russia was about to launch its invasion of Ukraine. Brazil is highly dependent on imports of Russian fertilizers, Pereira noted.

“I’m not sure that what Lula is saying about Ukraine sounds that radical in the Brazilian context,” Pereira told me. “A lot of people who supported Bolsonaro didn’t want to support Ukraine, either. They admired that Russia has a strong leader, and that it is a Christian, ethnically nationalist and anti-LGBQ country.”

Maybe so. But Lula’s statements on Russia’s invasion contradict his own national-sovereignty foreign policy.

By seeming to embrace Russia’s dangerous premise that it needed to invade Ukraine to protect its “sphere of influence,” Lula is opening the door for the United States or any other military power to invade its neighbors under the same pretext. That would throw the world into even more chaos.

Lula should focus on reducing poverty in Brazil and supporting a rules-based international order. His recent statements trying to normalize Russia’s invasion not only disqualify him as a serious peace broker, but also have turned him into a de facto backer of Russian imperialism.

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