The King yesterday marked the firm position of Spain in defense of "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine" in the face of the calculated equidistance in the conflict advocated by Brazilian President Lula da Silva, on an official visit to Madrid to relaunch relations weakened during the four years of Government of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Felipe VI valued Lula's call for peace in Eastern Europe, but warned that "to be lasting it must be based on respect for international law" and described Russian aggression as "unjustifiable". The monarch's speech is important as a symbol of the ironclad commitment to the values of European liberal humanism that the Crown represents. It is also worth highlighting the success of Pedro Sánchez, who only clashed with his Brazilian counterpart when it came to addressing the conflict, on which he pointed out that "there is an aggressor, Vladimir Putin, and an attacked people fighting for their freedom."

Lula da Silva defended that his country has always condemned the occupation of Ukraine, but also described the shipment of NATO weapons for the defense of Kiev as a way to "feed" the escalation. And the day before, on his way through Portugal, he assured that Ukraine "does not want to stop the war", arguing in favor of a peace without justice that avoids the accusation of culprits and to open a dialogue without conditions, when on the ground the Kremlin continues with a savage campaign of attacks against civilians.

The Brazilian president has emerged as a symbol of the countries of the so-called "global south" (which includes Latin American, African and Asian nations installed in relativism and non-alignment in the Ukrainian conflict), which has the complicity of Podemos, a minority partner of the Government of Spain. An example of the difficulties that Europe is encountering in forging a global coalition that will tighten the pressure on Moscow and force its withdrawal from the occupied territories. And of the loss of Western influence in large areas of the planet that vaguely condemn the invasion but do not want to join Western sanctions - which they consider unjustified and harmful to world stability - and over which China exercises a dangerous ascendancy derived from its economic power.

In fact, Lula's position is in line with what the Beijing government has established in a vague 12-point peace plan that talks about Ukrainian and Russian sovereignty but does not urge Moscow to withdraw completely from the territory conquered by blood and fire during the last year. However, yesterday there was an advance whose scope will have to be evaluated later, with the first call from Xi Jinping to Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski, who trusts that the open channel will boost the bilateral relationship towards a peace that can only be fair and distinguish victims from executioners.

  • Ukraine
  • Europe
  • China
  • Portugal
  • NATO
  • Vladimir Putin
  • Pedro Sanchez

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