Sánchez, before Lula: "Putin is the aggressor and Ukraine is the attacked, which is fighting for its freedom"

“Conciliatory, but firm”, they highlight in the Moncloa. As he did before the president of China, Xi Jinping, in their meeting in Beijing on March 31, Pedro Sánchez has demanded this Wednesday “forcefully” the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that he not put in the same balance to Ukraine and Russia, in a kind of geostrategic equidistance, more than a year after the invasion carried out by Vladimir Putin. “We must not forget that, in this war, there is an aggressor and there is a victim. The aggressor is Putin and the attacked is a people that the only thing they do is fight for their territorial integrity, for their national sovereignty and for their freedom”, Sánchez underlined during the joint appearance that he has starred with Lula in the Moncloa palace , after the signing of several cooperation agreements between Spain and Brazil.

“As I did in this matter speaking with President Xi, if we want peace to be just and lasting, it is essential that the voice of the attacked country, in this case of Ukraine and its President Zelenski, be heard, and his formula of peace is also taken into account”, Sánchez insisted before the historic Brazilian leader, now back in power after the parenthesis of the mandate of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

Sánchez, however, has thanked Lula for his “involvement and commitment” in the search for a resolution to the war in Ukraine, and has recognized his interest in promoting a group of countries that act as mediators to achieve peace. “We have different points of view, but it is very positive that Brazil is involved,” they emphasize in Moncloa. But the Spanish president has insisted that this peace must be “lasting and fair.” In any case, just as he did with Xi, Sánchez has emphasized the coincidences and not the differences, or the “nuances”, between the positions of Brazil and Spain, together with the rest of the European Union. Thus, he has focused on respect for fundamental principles of international law, such as the territorial integrity of states and the international order based on rules.

Lula, for his part, has insisted on reiterating the great message that shows his determination to return his country to the forefront of the international scene, after Bolsonaro’s stage of isolationism: “Brazil has returned.” And she has strongly condemned “the violation of the rights of Ukraine by Russia.” But she has insisted on ensuring that the fundamental thing, now, is not to determine “who is right”, whether Ukraine or Russia. The priority, in her opinion, is to stop the war. “The war must be stopped. You have to stop fighting and start negotiating ”, she stressed. And only after the ceasefire, according to her analysis, will the rest of the debates on the matter be opened. But the Brazilian president has criticized the supply of arms to Ukraine, which in his opinion only serves to prolong the tragedy.

The president of Brazil has questioned the UN Security Council, and has advocated for the maximum involvement of his country, China, Egypt or South Africa, in the resolution of a conflict that, as he has warned, “is of no interest to anyone”. “It is necessary to create a G-20 for peace,” demanded Lula, who intends to form a group of countries “that is capable of stopping the war.” “Brazil condemns the territorial occupation of Ukraine”, he acknowledged. “But the intervention of a group of friendly countries that sit down to negotiate with Russia and Ukraine is needed,” he assured. And he has extended the invitation to Sánchez: “I would be delighted for Spain to participate in this mediation team.”

Lula, however, has recognized that his position may be influenced by his country’s distance from the war scene. “I understand the role of the EU, because the war is on its continent”, he admitted. “We are 14,000 kilometers away, and that is why our position is more comfortable,” he has assumed. But he has defended his refusal to sell missiles ending up in Ukraine. “Brazil does not want to enter the war, it wants to enter the zone of peace”, he pointed out. “I don’t know what can happen if this war is prolonged, until an even greater misfortune,” he warned. But, contrary to the position of Spain or the EU, he has not wanted to speak about whether Crimea is Ukrainian or Russian territory. “It’s not me who has to decide whose Crimea it is, it’s the Russians and the Ukrainians who have to decide,” he argued. “First we have to stop the war, and then talk,” he insisted. And talk about Ukraine or the Donbass, he has indicated, but also about NATO.