Zelensky na Conferência sobre Segurança de Munique

 Zelensky na Conferência sobre Segurança de Munique:

“There is no one for whom the ongoing war in Europe does not pose a threat. This war defines more than just the place of Ukraine or entire Europe in the world. This is Russia’s war against any rules at all. 

But how long will the world let Russia be like this? This is the main question today. 

Please, everyone in the world, do not ask Ukraine when the war will end. Ask yourself – why is Putin still able to continue it. 

Let’s not fear Putin’s defeat and the destruction of his regime. 

Let’s instead – work together to destroy what he stands for. It is his fate to lose, not the fate of the rules-based world order to vanish. 

And may our world, based on rules, never become the world of yesterday.”

PRA: Até quando o mundo vai deixar Putin prevalecer? No que depender do governo brasileiro atual, Putin triunfaria e seria recebido aqui de braços abertos, se não houvesse uma ordem de arresto contra ele pelo TPI. Mas Lula já disse que preferiria ignorar o TPI para acolher Putin.

Chances de um encontro entre Lula e Zelensky diminuem sensivelmente, depois de entrevista de ucraniano - Eliane Oliveira, Alice Cravo (O Globo, Estadão)

 Itamaraty rebate Zelensky e diz que foram oferecidos três horários para reunião com Lula no Japão

Em entrevista publicada nesta quinta-feira, presidente da Ucrânia afirmou que desencontro com Lula não foi culpa dos ucranianos. Ele insinuou que o presidente brasileiro não tinha tempo para a reunião

Eliane Oliveira — Brasília

O Globo, 01/06/2023 13h13 

O Itamaraty rebateu as declarações do presidente da Ucrânia, Volodymyr Zelensky, publicadas em entrevista a sete veículos de imprensa da América Latina, incluindo a "Folha de São Paulo", de que o encontro que havia sido acertado com o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, durante uma reunião do Grupo dos Sete (G7), não aconteceu por causa do brasileiro. O Ministério das Relações Exteriores reafirmou ao GLOBO que foram oferecidos três horários a Zelensky, que não foram aceitos pelos ucranianos.

A reunião do G7 aconteceu em Hiroshima, no Japão, no mês passado. Ao chegar ao evento, Zelensky pediu uma audiência com o presidente Lula. De acordo com uma fonte que acompanhou as negociações, o governo brasileiro tem registradas todas as mensagens trocadas pelos respectivos chefes de cerimonial dos dois países.

Na entrevista publicada nesta quinta-feira, Zelensky afirmou que "definitivamente não foi por nossa causa" que a reunião bilateral não ocorreu. Brasil e Ucrânia estavam entre os convidados para o encontro do G7, formado por Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, França, Japão, Itália, Alemanha e Canadá.

A ida do presidente ucraniano a Hiroshima já era esperada pelo governo brasileiro, que foi comunicado pelo menos duas vezes no dia 10 de maio: pelos japoneses, anfitriões do evento; e durante uma reunião, em Kiev, entre Zelensky e o assessor para assuntos internacionais de Lula, Celso Amorim.

Momentos antes de deixar o Japão, Zelensky foi irônico, ao dizer que Lula deveria estar "desapontado", porque o encontro não aconteceu. Na entrevista desta quarta-feira, ele afirmou que "Lula quer ser original", com sua ideia de criar um clube de paz para negociar a paz entre Rússia e Ucrânia. Ele insinuou que o presidente brasileiro não teve tempo para a reunião.

— Ele encontrará tempo para responder a essa questão [se Lula concordaria com a punição dos assassinos na guerra]? Ele não achou tempo para se reunir comigo, mas, talvez, tenha tempo para responder a essa pergunta — afirmou Zelensky.

https://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2023/06/itamaraty-desmente-zelensky-e-diz-que-foram-oferecidos-tres-horarios-para-reuniao-com-lula-no-japao.ghtml

'Lula acha que assassinos em massa deveriam ser condenados e presos?', questiona Zelenski

O Estado de S. Paulo, 01/06/2023

O presidente da Ucrânia, Volodmir Zelenski, cobrou nesta quinta-feira, 1, em entrevista ao jornal Folha de S. Paulo uma posição do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva uma posição sobre os crimes de guerra cometidos pela Rússia em seu país.

“Lula precisa responder a algumas perguntas muito simples. O presidente acha que assassinos devem ser condenados e presos? Creio que, se tiver a oportunidade, ele dirá que sim. Ele encontrará tempo para responder a essa questão? Ele não achou tempo para se reunir comigo, mas, talvez, tenha tempo para responder a essa pergunta”, questionou Zelenski, em referência aos relatos de execução em massa e tortura de civis nas cidades de Bucha e Mariupol. A Rússia também é acusada de roubar crianças ucranianas e tirá-las do país.

“Se milhares de pessoas foram assassinadas na Ucrânia —não sabemos quantas dezenas de milhares foram mortos e torturados nas partes de nosso território ocupadas pelos russos—, os assassinos estavam cumprindo ordens? Se foi um assassinato em massa, deveria ser presa a pessoa que mandou outras pessoas fazerem isso? Acho que [Lula] dirá: bom, provavelmente, os assassinos em massa são sádicos. E, portanto, deveriam estar na prisão”, prosseguiu Zelenski.

“Se o presidente quiser ser original, ele pode dizer: ‘O tribunal que a Ucrânia propõe não é adequado, mas eu sei –dirá o presidente Lula– como colocar os assassinos atrás das grades de uma maneira mais rápida, sem tribunal’. Bom, aí a Ucrânia ficará muito contente em receber este conselho do presidente Lula de como colocar os assassinos do Kremlin na prisão de forma ainda mais rápida. Estamos sempre abertos a qualquer inovação na aplicação das leis.”

Desencontros no G-7

Lula tem tentado desde que tomou posse intermediar um acordo de paz entre Rússia e Ucrânia e o Brasil tem adotado uma posição de neutralidade no conflito. Declarações públicas do presidente que responsabilizam Kiev pelo conflito, no entanto, foram interpretadas como um sinal de apoio ao Kremlin.

Lula e Zelenski chegaram a conversar por videoconferência no começo do ano e o presidente enviou seu assessor especial de política externa Celso Amorim para encontrar o líder ucraniano em Kiev. Apesar disso, na cúpula do G-7 em Hiroshima, no mês passado, os dois não se reuniram.

Segundo o Itamaraty, os ucranianos não apareceram ao encontro no horário sugerido, mas Zelenski deu outra versão. “No G-7, tive várias reuniões bilaterais. Disseram que a gente não havia tentado nem se esforçado para encontrá-lo, isto não é verdade. Não é gente séria, substantiva, que está dizendo isso”, disse o presidente da Ucrânia. “Reitero que quero me encontrar com ele. Já ofereci a realização de uma reunião em qualquer formato. Já convidei várias vezes o presidente Lula para vir à Ucrânia. Estivemos em contato com a equipe dele quando ele estava na Espanha e em Portugal, pensei naquele momento porque a distância era menor e talvez ele conseguisse encontrar um tempo.”

https://www.estadao.com.br/internacional/lula-acha-que-assassinos-em-massa-deveriam-ser-condenados-e-presos-questiona-zelenski/

Lula recebe presidente da Finlândia, aliada da Ucrânia, e critica invasão do país pela Rússia

Presidente participa de uma bilateral com o presidente da Finlândia, Sauli Niinistö

Alice Cravo — Brasília

O Globo, 01/06/2023

O presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) e o presidente da da Finlândia, Sauli Niinistö, discutiram nesta quinta-feira, durante uma reunião bilateral, sobre a guerra entre Ucrânia e Rússia. Em declaração à imprensa, Lula reforçou as críticas à ocupação territorial da Ucrânia e afirmou que o Brasil faz parte de um grupo de países que "quer se manter neutro" para construir possibilidade do fim da guerra.

— O Brasil desde que começou essa guerra fez crítica a ocupação territorial da Ucrânia — afirmou, completando: — Estamos tentando formular a oportunidade, quando convier aos dois presidentes, da Rússia e da Ucrânia, colocar uma proposta de paz na mesa que tem que ser combinada com os dois. Não acontecerá nada enquanto Ucrânia e Rússia não tomarem a decisão de que querem a paz. O Brasil, portanto, faz parte de um grupo de países que querem se manter neutro para construir a possibilidade do fim da guerra.

Em seu pronunciamento, Lula afirmou que ouviu com "interesse" as considerações do outro presidente sobre o conflito e que reafirmou a posição em defesa da integridade territorial da Ucrânia.

— Ouvi com muito interesse as considerações do presidente Niinisto sobre a guerra entre a Ucrânia e a Rússia, país este com o qual a Finlândia partilha mais de mais de mil e trezentos quilômetros de fronteira. Reiterei a posição do Brasil de defesa da integridade territorial da Ucrânia e de condenação da invasão. Afirmei também nossa convicção sobre a necessidade de criar espaços de diálogo, que contribuam para a busca de solução pacífica para o conflito.

O presidente da Finlândia, por sua vez, afirmou que está "plenamente com a mesma opinião" do presidente Lula e que a "paz é a coisa mais importante".

— Estamos plenamente com a mesma opinião. A paz é a coisa mais importante e toda tentativa pela paz é muito valiosa. O nosso pensamento é que a Ucrânia foi atacada ilegalmente pela Rússia e a Ucrânia precisa de uma paz que a Ucrânia tem que aceitar, mas é bastante óbvio que hoje a paz precisa chegar, mas precisa estar de acordo e é preciso discutir como garantir uma paz na região.

Lula ainda afirmou que assinou com Niinistö um acordo sobre serviços aéreos na reunião bilateral realizada no Itamaraty.

-- Estou certo de que a delegação empresarial que acompanha o presidente encontrará excelentes oportunidades de negócio e investimento no Brasil. O acordo sobre serviços aéreos que assinamos hoje reforça nossa vontade de aproximação.

https://oglobo.globo.com/politica/noticia/2023/06/lula-fala-a-imprensa-no-itamaraty.ghtml

How Ukraine is trying to woo the Global South — and why it’s so hard - Ellen Ioanes Vox

 O tal de Global constitui, na verdade, um bando de oportunistas.

Paulo Roberto de Almeida

How Ukraine is trying to woo the Global South — and why it’s so hard 

President Zelenskyy visited the G7 and Arab League summits to make Ukraine’s case.

By Ellen Ioanes  

Vox, May 21, 2023, 4:27pm EDT

https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/5/21/23731540/ukraine-brazil-india-saudi-arabia?fbclid=IwAR0-4I4XU8ezGOifDo-zrejx1Qy8sb5e_NIIN8DVs0vgIGlYnCvZHdByNF4

Ellen Ioanes covers breaking and general assignment news as the weekend reporter at Vox. She previously worked at Business Insider covering the military and global conflicts.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Hiroshima, Japan, to make the case for expanded support from non-Western countries at the Arab League summit and the Group of 7 summit over the weekend. 

As Ukraine’s armed forces prepare for a counteroffensive in the ongoing effort to repel the Russian invasion, the US and European countries have, for the most part, been remarkably steadfast in their support for Ukraine via arms and economic sanctions against Russia. But countries like Saudi Arabia and India, which have important trade and security relationships with the West, aren’t jumping on board — partly because they have their own specific foreign policy and domestic development goals, and because they simply don’t see the war in Ukraine as their fight.

At Friday’s Arab League summit in Jeddah, Zelenskyy made his pitch to the leaders of 22 Middle Eastern and North African states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These wealthy Gulf nations both buy US-made weapons and have strong trade relationships with Western countries as well as Russia, presenting a dilemma faced by many countries in the broader international order. 

The weekend’s G7 summit saw Zelenskyy meeting privately with representatives of most parties in attendance, except Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has previously hedged on denouncing Russia’s invasion, even partly blaming Ukraine and Western countries for prolonging the war. In addition to the G7 member states — the US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, the UK, and Italy — leaders from the EU, Brazil, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Australia, Indonesia, Comoros, and Cook Islands attended this year’s meeting in Hiroshima. 

Ukraine was the primary focus of this year’s summit, and the guest list offered Zelenskyy an opportunity to try to bring India and Brazil, two major players in the Global South, on his side. But Zelenskyy and his Western partners will need to make a very compelling case that non-Western countries — especially those who have historically straddled the Cold War divide between the West and Russia — should fight Ukraine’s fight.

Ukraine’s got the West. What about the rest?

The G7 summit has in recent years invited representatives from the so-called Global South, like Brazil and India, partly as a counter to the criticism that it’s an elite institution whose influence is being overshadowed by developing nations, particularly on the economic front.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended this year’s summit, where he met one-on-one with Zelenskyy to discuss the ongoing effort to repel the Russian invasion. India has thus far refused to condemn Russia’s invasion and has increased its imports of Russian fuel despite US, UK, and EU sanctions on the sector. 

“I assure you that for its resolution India, and I personally, will do everything within our means,” Modi told Zelenskyy at their sideline meeting, Reuters reported Saturday, but did not make specific security or economic commitments to Ukraine. Modi has also reportedly spoken with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone multiple times, urging a diplomatic end to the war; however, India has abstained from UN Security Council votes condemning Russia’s invasion. 

India is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, created in 1961 at the height of Cold War tensions between the US and the Soviet Union. Then as now, these nations, mostly in the developing world, prioritized their own interests like economic growth and governance in a post-colonial context. Though non-aligned countries are not forbidden from having security or economic relationships with the so-called great power countries, the group’s main priority is to maintain member nations’ independence and avoid formal agreements with the great powers. 

Though India has economic and security relationships with both the US and Russia, it has also, under Modi, joined a multilateral cooperation group — the Quad — with the US, Australia, and Japan. Though that relationship would seem to bring India closer to Western and G7 defense priorities, the Quad is not a defense alliance like NATO, in which member states agree to defend each other when attacked. It also makes sense within the context of India’s longtime rivalry with China, which has escalated to border skirmishes in recent years. 

The Quad aligns with India’s direct interests; that’s not such an easy case to make when it comes to Ukraine, especially given another of India’s priorities — economic development. India has imported record levels of cheap Russian crude oil since the invasion in February 2022, selling the refined product as jet fuel and diesel to European countries.

Lula, Brazil’s president, has presented himself as a possible mediator between Russia and Ukraine along with a group of other nations uninvolved in the conflict and in accordance with its stance of non-alignment. Lula’s rhetoric around the conflict, particularly his doubts about Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea and the West’s role in the war, has concerned Western leaders, who argue that his stance is the result of Russian propaganda. But as Oliver Stuenkel, an associate professor of international relations at Fundação Getúlio Vargas in São Paulo, points out in Foreign Policy, Brazil and Russia have a longstanding, solid relationship that’s been mostly beneficial to the country. 

Countries like Brazil, India, and Gulf nations have to balance relationships with both the West and Russia — and Putin has made clear his position on the war as an existential battle between the West and Russia, with the West as the aggressor. 

“Most Arab states have decided to take a relatively neutral stance vis-a-vis the Ukraine war,” Giorgio Cafiero, the CEO and founder of Gulf State Analytics, told Vox. That includes Saudi Arabia and the UAE, two wealthy Gulf nations that have security arrangements with the US but are increasingly drawn to Russia as Moscow expands its influence in the region. 

“The leaders of these Arab states see the conflict in Russia and Ukraine as very much a European crisis that is for European countries, Western countries, and Russia to work out, it is not for Arab states to take a side,” Cafiero said.

Zelenskyy must find a way to appeal to new potential partners

Zelenskyy’s message to the US and other Western countries has been that the war his nation is fighting is to protect not only Ukraine’s fledgling democracy, but the very concept of and strength of the liberal democratic world order against Putin’s autocracy. That message appeals to the most idealistic self-conceptions of the US, UK, and EU — but less so to countries that have suffered under colonialism and neoliberalism.

In a recent panel discussion for Foreign Affairs, Matias Spektor, a professor of international relations at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, explained that developing nations are often “triggered” by the hypocrisy of the US and broader West in condemning Russia’s invasion. “The one thing that really triggers the Global South is when US national interests are couched in the language of moral superiority, when in fact everyone knows that there is a big disconnect between words and deeds,” Spektor said. 

Instead of appealing to the idea of Western democratic values, then, Zelenskyy framed his argument at the G7 and Arab League summits as Ukraine’s casting off the yoke of an imperialist oppressor — still a pertinent sentiment for nations throughout the Global South.

“This language can resonate with many people in the Arab world and also many people throughout the Global South,” Cafiero said. But it’s likely not enough to overcome the agreements and beneficial arrangements that Russia has made with some of those countries.

Zelenskyy further attempted to appeal to Arab states by bringing Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev along to the Arab League summit, pointing to the plight of Ukraine’s long-oppressed Muslim minorities. Though the Arab League has no political power and does not represent a military compact, it has historically been a seat of Arab, and to a lesser extent Muslim, solidarity.

“Another priority is the protection of the Muslim community of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told the Arab League summit. “Crimea was the first to suffer from the Russian occupation, and most of those who suffer repression in occupied Crimea are Muslims.” The Crimean Tatar ethnic group is predominantly Muslim and has experienced heightened persecution since Russia invaded Crimea in 2014. 

“I do not think that these arguments and this rhetoric will do much to convince Arab states to make any fundamental changes to their positions toward the conflict in Ukraine,” Cafiero said, “because these Arab countries have relationships, have partnerships with Russia that have been becoming increasingly important to Arab countries — especially the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.”

Though Saudi Arabia and Russia have no formal alliance, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, and Putin have worked together to tilt the global oil trade in their favor in recent months after the Western alliance and Japan sanctioned the Russian fuel sector. The kingdom invested more than $600 million in Russian energy firms last year and then doubled its fuel purchases from Moscow in the wake of the sanctions, the New York Times reported in September. 

The UAE has taken advantage of sanctions against Russia to open up bilateral trade, which the Russian government claims grew by 68 percent to $9 billion last year. Wealthy Russians are flocking to the Emirates — investing in real estate and opening businesses — and the UAE is importing steeply discounted Russian oil as well as precious metals and agricultural products, according to an April report by Nikita Smagin for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

Russia has a significant propaganda apparatus in both Africa and Latin America, as well as the Arabic-speaking world, helping to sow doubt about a faraway conflict that doesn’t affect ordinary people in Dubai, Rio, or Bangalore. That reality, along with strong economic ties to Russia and legitimate critiques of the Western liberal world order, will be hard for Zelenskyy to overcome as the war wears on.

Zelensky pede um Nuremberg para Putin - Alexandra Sharp (Foreign Policy)

 Putin merece um Nuremberg só seu.

MAY 4, 2023  |  VIEW IN BROWSER  |  SUBSCRIBE

Sponsored by the Clinton School of Public Service By Alexandra Sharp Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Ukrainian calls to prosecute Russian President Vladimir Putin, a new U.S. investment in AI development, and the Adani Group’s flight from Myanmar. Have tips or feedback? Hit reply with your thoughts. “True Justice” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a speech at the World Forum in The Hague on May 4.Remko de Wall/ANP/AFP via Getty Images In a rare foreign trip on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to face “true justice.” In a 15-minute speech delivered in The Hague, the Netherlands city that hosts the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Ukrainian president renewed his demand to establish a special tribunal like the Nuremberg trials to try Putin for the crime of aggression, which is when a state’s leader uses armed force “against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State,” as defined by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314. The ICC issued an arrest warrant in March for Putin and another top Russian official for their role in Russia’s abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children. Part of the official definition of genocide includes “forcibly transferring children of [one] group to another group.” However, the ICC cannot prosecute the crime of aggression itself. “If we want true justice, we should not look for excuses and should not refer to the shortcomings of the current international law but make bold decisions that will correct the shortcomings of those norms,” Zelensky said. He alleged that Russia committed 6,139 war crimes in April alone—killing 207 Ukrainian civilians, including 11 children. Just the day before Zelensky’s speech, Russian shelling killed 23 Ukrainians in Kherson. Zelensky’s call for Putin to face justice in a court of law for his crimes was particularly notable at this time, as it comes amid accusations from Moscow that Ukraine tried to assassinate the Russian president in a foiled drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday. The Ukrainian president also discussed his country’s prospects for joining NATO, admitting that Kyiv will likely not join the 31-member bloc while the war with Russia continues. In an address to the Dutch parliament, he asked the international community to continue isolating Russia with aggressive Western sanctions, advocated for NATO to begin planning for a Ukrainian membership bid, and urged NATO allies to send more powerful and longer-range weapons to Kyiv. “I’m grateful to you for the fact that we’ve achieved the greatest unity in Europe, which people only dreamed of for decades,” Zelensky said. Meanwhile, Moscow continues to hammer Ukrainian cities. Russia fired two dozen combat drones on Thursday, hitting a university campus in Odesa and targeting Kyiv for the third time in four days. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also accused Ukraine of acting on U.S. orders to launch Wednesday’s attempted drone strike on the Kremlin. Peskov did not provide evidence of U.S. involvement, and U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby denied the allegations, saying Peskov was “just lying.”