Jair Bolsonaro proposes a “solution” like the Malvinas for the war in Ukraine

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said Thursday that he will propose to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelenski, a “solution” to end the war with Russia similar to the process that ended the Argentine-UK war over the Falklands. , in 1982.

The two leaders will take contact for the first time since the Russian military invasion in Ukrainian territory, in a telephone conversation scheduled for next Monday.

“I know what the solution of the case would be like, but I’m not going to anticipate it. The solution of the case … How did Argentina’s war with the UK end in 1982? It’s over there. Sorry, the truth is that things do bad, they hurt, but you have to understand, “said the president in an interview with CNN Brasil.

The president did not want to clarify what he was referring to the “Malvinas solution”, because in the Argentine islands until now there is an occupation by the United Kingdom, which has since refused to comply with the resolutions of the Decolonization Committee. United Nations sit down to negotiate after winning the war in 1982.

Bolsonaro, leader of the Brazilian far right and who will aspire to re-election in the elections next October, said that it was Zelensky who sought a conversation with him.

“And I immediately said yes, that I would talk to him”, remarked the Brazilian leader.

Since the outbreak of the war, Bolsonaro has avoided condemning the Russian attacks in Ukraine and has maintained a “neutral” and “balanced” position in the face of the conflict.

At the same time, he was critical of the siege of economic sanctions the West adopted against the government of Vladimir Putin, which he visited last February, on the eve of the war, and with whom he maintains a relationship. fluid.

The Brazilian president also defended the visit to the Russian president in February – when the tension was mounting and everything raised fears of a war in Ukraine, which arrived a month later – to guarantee the supply of fertilizers.

In this way he tried to reassure Brazilian agribusiness, the main Bolsonarian electoral base in the face of the October 2 elections.

“Everything that was agreed with Putin has been respected. I will talk a lot with Zelensky because he is a leader and I will give him my opinion. This war is causing upheaval not only for Brazil, but many other upheavals for Europe,” he said. called Bolsonaro.

Absence at the summit of Mercosur

In the CNN interview, Bolsonaro instead advanced that gave up on going to the Mercosur Summit to be held next week in Paraguay, although he did not specify the reasons.

“I said I won’t go there anymore. In politics you can go back on some things, but my decision so far is not to go to Mercosur,” he said.

The president highlighted his good relationship with his Paraguayan counterpart, Mario Abdo Benítez, but stressed that, “despite his call”, he will not attend the meeting of the bloc formed by Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.

The meeting of the Heads of State of Mercosur, scheduled for 21 July in Asunción, It will be the first face to face after two years of virtuality due to the covid-19 pandemic and in it Paraguay will transfer the rotating presidency of the organization to Uruguay.

The debate on the reduction of the external tariff and on unilateral international negotiations has arisen cracks within the block.

In this sense, Uruguay reported Wednesday that it has initiated talks with China on a free trade agreement (FTA), despite Mercosur’s rules not allowing countries to negotiate deals outside the bloc.

“In every Mercosur summit and in every case that we have had, we reaffirm the Uruguayan’s vocation of openness. This is not contrary or contrary to belonging to the bloc”, underlined the president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, become the unruly voice of Mercosur.

Source: EFE

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