Russia celebrates this Friday, with a solemn parade in the Red Square in Moscow, the 80th anniversary of victory against Nazism in World War II. Together with the most precious guest, the Chinese Xi Jinping, will be the Brazilian Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the only leader of a great democracy that has agreed to accompany Vladimir Putin in an act that, in addition to celebrating the ephemeris, intends to project the image that it is not isolated after the invasion of Ukraine, in 2022. Lula Visit generates in Brazil, to clothe a co -founder partner of the BRICs and an ally in defense of multilateralism. From Moscow, Lula travels to Beijing.
The Brazilian president has planned a meeting with Putin and this Thursday participates in a dinner at the Kremlin. “My visit to Russia reaffirms our commitment to multilateralism. We will sign cooperation agreements in science and technology and seek to expand our commercial alliances,” said President Lula on Wednesday, when he arrives in the Russian capital. But the effects of the Ukraine War on the visit are evident. Moscow started the week with an attack of Ukrainian drones that forced the airports to close.
Lula’s wife, Janja Da Silva, who traveled to Russia last week, had to change the route after the refusal of Latvia and Estonia, both in the EU and NATO, to authorize the overflow of its territory, as revealed O Globe. And among the guests at the Victory Day Parade, Lula will be the only representative of a Western democratic power among thirty guests. A single EU country, Slovakia, one of the closest to Russia, and a wide cast of authoritarian regimes such as Belarus, Cuba, Myanmar, Venezuela, Egypt … Egypt …
Putin and Lula have not been in person for years because the arrest warrant of the Criminal Court for War Crimes in Ukraine prevented the Russian from traveling last year to Rio to participate in the G-20, since Brazil belongs to the court and, therefore, should arrest it if it steps on its territory; Nor is it expected to go to the BRICS summit that the Brazilian city will host in July.
Also in 2024 Lula had to cancel a trip to Russia in the last minute for a domestic accident. The Brazilian president close ties with his main eastern allies, while US President Donald Trump ignores it. Thing that in these times of American belligerence is almost better. Brazil has been among the less affected countries in the tariff war. But, when almost four months after Trump’s return to the White House, the leaders of the two most populated countries in America have not yet maintained a conversation or by phone.
Lula’s presence with Putin will mean “wear before her traditional allies in the West,” the diplomat Paulo Roberto de Almedia has warned in statements. Those allies were already disappointed in 2022, when Lula blamed the war for aggressor and victim, Russia and Ukraine, respectively. Since then, kyiv-Brasilia relationships are tense.
Brazilian diplomacy remembers these days that condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the UN, and that sponsored, together with China, an initiative of exit dialogued to war. This never achieved true traction and has been totally eclipsed by the negotiation that Trump has imposed on President Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky.
In that context, and although in the stands of guests Lula will be surrounded by a majority of autocrats, the Brazilian government considers logical to accompany an allied country, such as Russia, in a milestone like the victory in 1945 against Hitler.
Brazil has a consolidated foreign policy open to dialogue (and commerce) with all countries and usually remains out of the offensive of diplomatic isolation and sanctions of its western allies. In full tariff war, Lula insists that he does not plan to choose between the US and China, who wants to maintain a good relationship with both superpowers.
An idea that has stressed in an interview with the magazine The New Yorker: “We do not accept the idea of a Second Cold War. We accept the idea that the more similar the countries – technology and militarily advanced -, the more they should communicate with each other, because I am not sure that the planet can endure a third World War.”
Beyond geopolitics and diplomacy, Brazil has an interest in balancing its commercial relationship with Russia. From there it matters above all fertilizers – chrucial for the agricultural sector and that even the war mainly bought Ukraine – and diesel. Brasilia wants to increase its exports to Russia.
While Russia is accompanied by mining and science ministers, the delegation to China is much more nourished. There Lula will participate, along with her counterparts Gabriel Boric (Chile) and Gustavo Petro (Colombia) at a CELAC meeting. The Brazilian intends that the Chinese diversify their imports and investments in Brazil. With this double trip, Brazil also wants to emphasize that its foreign policy is independent, regardless of the great blocks.
