Ukraine criticizes Lula's idea to abandon Crimea: "We will not give in"

Ukraine criticizes Lula’s idea to abandon Crimea: “We will not give in”

Posted On: April 7, 2023

Spokesman for Ukrainian diplomacy, Oleg Nikolenko, responded to a speech by the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who, during a meeting with journalists on Thursday (7/4), suggested that Eastern Europeans gave Crimea in exchange for the end of the war against Russia.

According to Nikolenko, efforts to restore peace will be based on respect for the full sovereignty of Ukrainian territory, in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Lula avoided taking sides in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but defended that President Vladimir Putin withdraws his troops from the territories occupied since the beginning of the war, in 2022. These places do not include the peninsula, however. of Crimea annexed by the Russians. in 2014.

“Putin cannot take land in Ukraine. Perhaps Crimea is not even mentioned, but what it invaded (in 2022) will have to be rethought. Nor can Zelensky (Ukrainian President) want everything he thinks he wants. All this is an issue that must be put on the table,” said Lula, who also criticized the “immediate entry” of European countries and the United States into the conflict.

It should be recalled that Ukraine is not yet part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance, but is considered a “partner country” by the bloc, which includes the states United States and other European powers. Lula thinks these countries should have spent more time trying to negotiate peace.

“Brazil defends the territorial integrity of every nation. We do not agree with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, we believe that the developed world, in particular the European Union and the United States, could not have agreed to go to war as they did, quickly, without spending a lot of time trying to negotiate. And negotiating peace is very complicated, ”said the Brazilian president.

Nikolenko said there was no reason to justify abandoning Crimea, but thanked Lula for his efforts to find a way to stop Russian aggression. “Ukraine appreciates the efforts of the President of Brazil to find a solution to end the Russian aggression. At the same time, we specify that we do not exchange our territory. There is no legal, political or moral reason that justifies giving up a single centimeter of Ukrainian territory,” the Ukrainian spokesman said.

Lula is invited to the G7 summit

During the night of this Thursday (6/4), the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, formally invited Brazil to participate in the G7 summit, a group made up of the seven most industrialized economies on the planet: Germany, Canada, United States United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. The event took place in the city of Hiroshima, Japan, from May 19 to 21.

The bloc was previously called the G8, but Russia was expelled in 2014 after the invasion and annexation of Crimea. This is the first time that Brazil has been invited to this event since 2009, under the second Lula administration. The invitation is generally extended to developing countries that can contribute to debates important to the global agenda, such as the environment.

If I accept the invitation, President Lula is also expected to bring peace efforts to the group’s discussion. The subject should also be the subject of the visit of the Brazilian chief executive to China, during a meeting with President Xi Jinping, considered an important mediator in the resolution of the conflict.

Brazil does not sign declaration on war

The document, among other things, scathingly criticizes the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A total of 76 countries have signed the declaration. Of these, 16 said they support the text with reservations on specific points. Armenia, India and Mexico are among the nations that have expressed their disagreement with the paragraph of the declaration that deals more ostensibly with the conflict in Ukraine.

The decision not to adhere to the final declaration of the summit stems from Lula’s disagreement with the use of the event to condemn Russian attitudes. For Brazilian diplomats, the ideal environment for discussing war-related issues would be the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council.

“We are deeply concerned about the negative impact of war on global food security, energy, nuclear safety and security, and the environment. We demand that Russia immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from Ukrainian territory within its internationally recognized borders and call for a cessation of hostilities,” part of the statement read.