MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei criticized for U-turn in foreign policy regarding Ukraine

Milei and Zelensky once stood on the same side

Argentine President Javier Milei took heavy flak from friends and foes alike after his country abstained at the United Nations from urging Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, thus making a notorious U-turn from the support he showed his colleague Volodymyr Zelensky during his Dec. 10, 2023, inauguration in Buenos Aires and last month at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos (Switzerland).

The Libertarian leader's shift was interpreted to be aimed at siding with US President Donald Trump but critics in the Argentine capital argued that a President changing moods was not good to generate confidence. In addition, Argentina voted alongside the BRICS countries, a group Argentine had been admitted into but Milei declined citing foreign policy consistency matters. The Security Council's resolution was approved with 93 votes, 18 against, and 65 abstentions, including Argentina, the United States, North Korea, Belarus, and Hungary, among others.

Radical Civic Union (UCR) Chairman Martín Lousteau and his comrade and former Vice President Julio Cobos called the abstention “regrettable” and “shameful,” as demands emerged in Congress for explanations of this foreign policy reversal.

Former Culture Minister Pablo Avelluto, who last year left former President Mauricio Macri's ranks, wrote on social media that “the Cultural Battle is also against countries that defend themselves from invaders. With Ukraine, against Milei,” who was also criticized by leftwing forces.

“This is a new beginning for Argentina and I wish President Milei and all the Argentine people to surprise the world with their successes. I am also sure that bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Argentina will continue to expand,” Zelensky wrote after his trip to Buenos Aires. “I was the first to defend Ukraine against Russia; you will always find me on the right side of history,” Milei said then.

In June 2024, Milei participated in the Peace Summit convened by Zelenski on June 15 in Switzerland, where he expressed, “on behalf of the Argentine people”, his “maximum support to the people of Ukraine” and repudiated “all forms of violence”.

In September 2024, Milei accused the UN of being “an impotent organization in providing solutions to real global conflicts such as the aberrant Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has cost the lives of more than 300,000 people.” This year, Milei and Zelensky met again in Davos, just after Donald Trump's presidential inauguration.

Argentina's abstention also came amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for fresh funds.

While Milei brags about him being a “neighborly phenomenon” in an ironic tone, footage of future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz went viral Tuesday as the conservative leader said Milei was “ruining the country and stomping people.”