The White House lambasted the Brazilian president on Monday after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said during a visit to China that the United States was “encouraging” war in Ukraine.
“In this case, Brazil is repeating Russian and Chinese propaganda without looking at the facts at all,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Lula met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Saturday, saying, “The United States should stop encouraging war and start talking about peace. The European Union must start talking about peace.
The statement echoes rhetoric often used by Moscow and Beijing, who accuse the West of supporting Kiev after Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, to overthrow the democratically elected government and annex part of the neighboring country. .
Brazil did not join Western countries in imposing sanctions on Russia and refused to supply ammunition to Ukraine.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking in the Brazilian capital, said that Russia “is grateful to our Brazilian friends for understanding the origins of the situation (in Ukraine)”.
Lula, on the left, seeks to defend Brazil’s image as a neutral country and a peacemaker. However, as Kirby noted, Lula’s message about war is “deeply problematic”.
According to him, Washington has “no objection to a country wanting to try to end the war”.
“Obviously we want this war to end,” Kirby said. “It could happen now, today, if Mr. Putin stops attacking Ukraine and withdraws his troops.”
“Brazil’s latest comments that Ukraine should consider ceding Crimea as a condition of peace are simply wrong, especially for a country like Brazil that voted (in the UN) for the principles of sovereignty and independence. ‘territorial integrity,’ the White House representative added.
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