(Rio de Janeiro) Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro confirmed Saturday that he is continuing his visit to Russia where he expects to be on Tuesday, despite high tensions over Ukraine as the United States says it fears an imminent Russian invasion.
Posted yesterday at 4:38pm.
According to various analysts, Washington put pressure on the Brazilian to cancel this visit, which was officially focused on strengthening bilateral trade relations, while threatening war in Europe.
But as phone calls aimed at bringing diplomacy to reign Saturday between Western leaders and Russia multiplied without easing tensions, Jair Bolsonaro relied on God.
“We ask God that peace prevail in the world for the good of all of us,” Bolsonaro said after an interview on local radio, confirming his visit to Russia scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday.
“I received an invitation from (Russian) President Vladimir Putin,” the far-right head of state explained, citing the Uol news site, “Brazil is largely dependent on fertilizer from Russia.”
Russian-Brazilian trade is small, with trade amounting to $7.29 billion in 2021. But fertilizers make up about 60% of Russian exports, and they are essential to the world’s largest agricultural producer and exporter that is Brazil.
Jair Bolsonaro added that his delegation will include “a group of ministers to discuss other issues that concern our countries, such as energy, defense and agriculture.”
Brazil continues to call for “dialogue” in the Russian-Western crisis, and has been keen not to take sides, and to deal only with bilateral issues during this visit.
But the United States in particular fears it will be seen as a sign of support for the Russian president.
In a balancing act, on Friday the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs celebrated the 30thAnd Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with Ukraine, noting in a press release the “multiple high-level contacts” since “Brazil recognized Ukraine’s independence” in 1991.
