MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur can't agree on a joint communiqué on the Ukraine conflict

President Bolsonaro did not approve the strong wording condemning Russia for the military invasion of Ukraine

Lack of consensus on the drafting of a Mercosur joint statement on the Russia/Ukraine situation, plus the fact it was only signed by three of the four block's members, forced on Friday the removal of a first copy.

The statement was first issued by Paraguay, but shortly after removed, since “it was draft communiqué still being negotiated, thus wrongly uploaded...”

The retracted note said the Russian advance on Ukrainian territory constituted an “open violation of the principles and norms of International Law.” And called for “the immediate withdrawal of the Russian military forces from Ukrainian territory.”

But the fact is that this version, with support from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, lacked the approval of Brazil, the most influential of the four members.

However this did not impede the Brazilian representative in the UN Security Council to vote in favor of a resolution condemning Russia. Allegedly Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has had double thoughts about the Ukraine conflict and his admired “strong man” Vladimir Putin.

Earlier in the month Bolsonaro was in Moscow and met with his Russian counterpart expressing “solidarity” with Putin's explanation of the brewing conflict and the fact he was being cornered by NATO and Western countries.

This was reflected on Thursday when Brazil’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing “concern” with Russia’s military operations but stopping short of a condemnation.

Bolsonaro also publicly scolded his vice president Hamilton Mourao for condemning the Russian invasion and said it was not his place to talk about the crisis.

The Brazilian president has had ongoing arguments with several Western leaders over the Amazon deforestation, particularly with US president Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron, among others.

On the other hand with his good friend Donald Trump out of action, Bolsonaro an admirer of conservative populist leaders has been close to “strong man” Putin.