US on edge over Lula’s neutral foreign policy amid Lavrov visit
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Russia's Foreign Minister will visit Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua next as to the displease of Washington.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (Russian Foreign Ministry)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is set to visit Brazil on Monday to meet with his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, The Guardian reported on Monday.
Lavrov's arrival coincides with that of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who returns from his official visit to China on Monday, where his main focus was to push for trade de-dollarization between the Global South and settling financial transactions instead with local currencies. The Brazilian leader also urged BRICS nations to establish a common currency as the basis of trade.
Lula's journey to China is part of the leader's attempt to resurrect Brazil's multilateralism heritage, which was largely abandoned under previous President Jair Bolsonaro.
His China trip further reflects his policy to establish balanced relations with other countries, where the Brazilian President also made a visit to the United States last month to meet with US President Joe Biden.
Read more: China, Brazil announce de-dollarization of mutual trade
“To return to international politics, Brazil must have positive relationships with all countries,” said Rubens Duarte, head of a Brazil-based research center for international relations.
Brazil's foreign policy is pragmatic due to the fact that its top trading partners are China and the US, and they heavily rely on Russia for fertilizer imports. However, Lula has bigger goals for Brazil's foreign policy, including the aspiration of playing a role in brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine.
In January, Lula brought up the idea during a meeting with Olaf Scholz, where he refused to comply with Scholz's request for Brazil to contribute ammunition to Ukraine's war effort.
Lula has since promoted with a number of foreign leaders establishing a "peace club" consisting of neutral countries. Aside from Xi, the Brazilian President also brought up the idea with US President Joe Biden during his last visit to Washington. He also went further with his peace efforts during that same period and dispatched his senior foreign policy advisor, Celso Amorim, on a low-profile trip end of March to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss potential solutions to the war in Ukraine.
But events like Lavrov's visit - who is on a Latin American trip and will be visiting Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua - and Lula's recent statements from Beijing will not resonate well in Washington.
Read more: Washington concerned of visit by Brazil's Lula to Huawei in China
While Brazil voted to condemn Russia at the UN over the war in Ukraine, Lula has remained somewhat vague on his true position, the report claimed, recalling backing suggestions for Ukraine to accept Russia's accession of Crimea or his recent accusations during his China visit of the US being behind prolonging the war there.
“Lula’s approach to the issue in Ukraine, both in substance and rhetoric, is causing a lot of mistrust in Washington and other western capitals in Europe,” said Bruna Santos, head of the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based thinktank.
Guilherme Casarões, professor of international relations at the Fundação Getulio Vargas University, said that “Brazil’s relations with Russia are very solid, […] but I don’t think this really changes Brazil’s position. Even if it was a war involving countries that Brazil does not have a strong relationship with, it wouldn’t change, as Brazil has always had a position as a peacemaker, as a mediator."
