New seating arrangement at the giant table
Putin is courting Brazil’s head of state Bolsonaro
02/16/2022, 5:50 p.m
French President Macron and Chancellor Scholz have to sit at a six-meter-long table during their visit to the Kremlin. Russia’s regent puts less distance between himself and Brazil’s president. A success for Bolsonaro, because he does not have many friends abroad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sees his right-wing Brazilian colleague Jair Bolsonaro as a “leading partner” in South America. After a “constructive” talk between the two heads of state, Putin said in the afternoon that the two countries are linked by “friendship and mutual understanding”. Bolsonaro invited Putin to a return visit to Brazil. According to an official statement, the invitation was “gratefully received”.
At Putin’s meeting with Bolsonaro, the maximum distance at the six-meter-long table, which had made headlines in Putin’s talks with foreign guests in the past few days, was waived. Bolsonaro was only separated from Putin by a small distance. In the past few days, French President Emmanuel Macron and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, among others, have had to sit at the head of the six-meter table. Both had refused to take a Russian PCR test before meeting Putin.
Print from the USA
At their meeting, Putin and Bolsonaro agreed closer cooperation on energy and trade, according to the Kremlin. Both are also of the opinion “that conflicts should be resolved by peaceful and diplomatic means,” the Kremlin added. The US government had reportedly pressured Bolsonaro before the trip to cancel the visit to Moscow due to the threat of an escalation in the Ukraine conflict. The US feared that the meeting could be taken as a sign of support for Russia.
Bolsonaro arrived in Russia on Tuesday. At the same time, with the announcement of a partial troop withdrawal, Russia gave a sign of easing in the Ukraine crisis. In the afternoon, however, the USA and NATO doubted that Moscow had actually already withdrawn its military forces. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said in Brussels that, on the contrary, more Russian soldiers were stationed on the border with Ukraine.
Bolsonaro wants to meet Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest on Thursday. The Brazilian President will be accompanied by ministers and business representatives. According to observers, the right-wing head of state of the largest country in Latin America also wants to use the trip to show that he still has partners abroad.