During an interview with Joe Biden, Lula claims his neutrality vis-à-vis the conflict in Ukraine
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, received by Joe Biden on Friday, said during his exchange with the press that he had mentioned “the need to create a group of countries that are not involved, either directly or indirectly, in Russia’s war against Ukraine, so that we have the possibility of building peace. »
The United States is the big driver of the Western response to Russia, while Brazil has condemned the Russian invasion at the UN, but has not adopted economic sanctions against Moscow or sent munitions to Kiev.
Lula’s proposal, already formulated before his visit, had caused surprise and consternation within Western chancelleries.
Regarding Ukraine, the position of the Brazilian president is as much about ideology as it is about realpolitik. It is a question of posing as an intermediary, a facilitator, even a mediator of the conflict. “Brazil can also become the voice of the countries of the South, which suffer the consequences of this distant war, in the Americas and in Africa”notes a senior diplomat from Itamaraty, the Brazilian foreign ministry.
Brazil’s dependence on fertilizers, especially Russian ones, has often been mentioned since the country became one of the world’s leading producers of soybeans, corn, beef, poultry and even coffee. The country imports, in fact, 95% of the nitrogen, 75% of the phosphate and 91% of the potassium that it consumes, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. Nearly 23% of these purchases come from Russia, including half of the potassium consumed nationally. As for Belarus, which supplies nearly 7% of the fertilizers used in Brazil, it has announced that it can no longer honor its commitments, with the closure of its border with Lithuania.