The US praises Brazil after its vote aligned with them in the UN Security Council against Russia.
The US Under Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs said he was proud "to stand alongside Brazil"; Brazilian agriculture depends on Russian fertilizers.
247 - The US Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, praised Brazil after it supported the UN Security Council resolution that deplored in the strongest terms Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On Twitter, the US official responsible for diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean said that Washington "is proud to stand with Brazil in defending the human rights of all those in Ukraine."
The praise from the US representative comes on the same day that the US government announces it will send a delegation to talk with President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. The US seems to want to strengthen ties in Latin America, following a shift in the geopolitical landscape with Putin's decision to demand neutrality from Ukraine and the banning of the plan to accept the Eastern European country into NATO, which would have placed missiles 300 kilometers from Moscow.
“Every vote in the UN Human Rights Council to hold the Kremlin accountable for Russia’s horrific actions in Ukraine matters. The U.S. is proud to stand with Brazil in defending the human rights of all those in Ukraine,” Nichols wrote.
The deputy secretary's comment was shared by the US Embassy in Brazil and by the US chargé d'affaires in the country, Douglas Koneff. The diplomat, who, since the departure of Ambassador Todd Chapman from Brazil, is the highest-ranking representative of Washington here, had been pressing the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to take a tougher stance towards Moscow.
On the other hand, the conflict in Eastern Europe directly affects Brazil's economic interests. Due to logistical difficulties, Russia has cancelled fertilizer shipments to the country. Russia and Belarus are the largest suppliers of these products to Brazilian farmers.