Moscow – Kyiv – Brasilia – continued
Publication date: April 18, 2023 10:35 pm (KSA)
The Kremlin Palace reported yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Kherson and Lugansk regions in southern and eastern Ukraine on the occasion of Easter, which the Orthodox celebrate on Sunday. The statement said that Putin visited the headquarters of the Dnieper troops in the Kherson region, where he met with the Russian military stationed there. This is Putin’s first visit to the region since the outbreak of war between Moscow and Kiev in February last year, but the statement did not specify a date for the visit. “The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation visited the headquarters of the Dnieper troops” in the Kherson region, the report said. This is Putin’s first visit to the region since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In Kherson, Putin discussed with the commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, General Mikhail Teplinsky and other senior military leaders, the situation in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, which Russia announced its annexation in September. “It is important for me to hear your opinion on the situation, to listen to you and exchange information with you,” Putin said, according to the Kremlin’s video broadcast. The Russian army left the city of Kherson, the center of the region, in November 2022 to gather its forces on the other side of the Dnieper. According to the Kremlin, Putin also visited Lugansk during his first visit to the region in eastern Ukraine, where he held talks with Russian National Guard headquarters soldiers stationed there. In addition, Brazil, which hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, denied US accusations against its President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of repeating Russian and Chinese propaganda about the war in Ukraine. Lula Lavrov’s reception in Brazil came after two state visits by the President of Brazil to China and the UAE, during which he believed that “the United States should stop encouraging war and start talking about peace.” Lula also saw that Kyiv shared responsibility for starting the war, which began with the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Brazil’s position was a repetition of the position of Moscow and Beijing, which held the West responsible for the war, which was in its second year. In the meantime, Beijing seeks to appear neutral in the conflict, maintaining a partnership with Russia and refraining from condemning the war and joining Western sanctions against Moscow. On Monday, Lavrov thanked Brazil for its “contribution” to finding a solution to the conflict. However, the Brazilian president’s position has come under fire from Washington, which is leading international efforts to support Ukraine and its attempts to isolate Russia amid the war. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that “Brazil is repeating Russian and Chinese propaganda without even looking at the facts.” He stressed that “Brazil’s recent comments that Ukraine should formally give up Crimea as part of a concession for the sake of peace are simply misleading,” given that what Lula did was “very problematic.”
