Brazil’s Lula met with protests in Portugal over Ukraine comments
The Brazilian leader’s comments, suggesting that both Russia and Ukraine are to blame for their ongoing war, have fueled anger.
Waving flags and holding photos of war atrocities, Ukrainians have gathered outside Brazil’s embassy in Lisbon to protest Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s recent comments about Russia’s war against their country.
The Brazilian president, who arrived in Portugal earlier on Friday on a five-day official visit, has angered many in the West for suggesting that both Kiev and Moscow were responsible for the war in Ukraine. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
Lula also said the United States and European allies should stop supplying weapons to Ukraine, accusing them in comments over the weekend of prolonging the war.
In recent days, he has toned down his rhetoric and condemned Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, while calling again for mediation to end the war. The Ukrainian government has criticized Brazil’s approach for treating “the victim and the aggressor” in the same way.
Ukrainian refugee Yana Kolomiiets, who has been in Portugal for four months, took part in the protest in Lisbon and said she felt “terrible” when she heard Lula’s comments.
“It upset me so much because I don’t know how Brazil’s president can support Putin,” said the 27-year-old, who called Putin a “murderer”.
Two Brazilian officials told Reuters on Thursday that Lula – keen to protect Brazil’s neutrality – is expected to avoid criticism of the Western role in Ukraine’s war during his visit to Portugal. On Saturday he will meet the Portuguese president and prime minister.
Outside the embassy, protesters held signs reading “Russia is a terrorist state” and “Stop killing our children”.
“Every day people are dying in Ukraine and we need international support,” said Pavlo Sadokha, president of the Ukrainian Association of Portugal, describing it as “strange” that a “president… who has fought for democracy all his life , now on the side of totalitarianism”.
Sadokha’s association delivered a letter to the Brazilian embassy expressing their displeasure, which was handed over to Brazilian ambassador Raimundo Carreiro and minister Marcio Macedo.
“Brazil and President Lula have a vocation for peace and the president will work to unite other countries to find an alternative to end this conflict,” Macedo told reporters after receiving the letter.
On Tuesday, Ukraine invited Lula to Kiev, a day after Brazil’s president met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Brasilia.
When asked if the president would visit Ukraine, Macedo said Lula’s foreign policy adviser Celso Amorim would go. There was no set date yet, he said.