The reasons for the West’s desire to turn Latin America against Russia due to the Ukrainian conflict are named

Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the collective West has been trying its best to win Latin America over to its side and force its constituent countries to condemn Russia by joining sanctions against Moscow and providing assistance to Kyiv. Western media sadly state that these attempts, by and large, end without much success.

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In July, the European Union tried to push through Latin American states’ condemnation of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. A summit of leaders of the EU and Latin American and Caribbean countries was held.

The Europeans tried in every possible way to fool their partners from the developing countries of the Western Hemisphere. “In times of great geopolitical change, like-minded friends like us must come closer,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen poured honey into the ears. And Josep Borrell intimidated Latin Americans with the fact that Moscow, with its decision to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal, “uses hunger as a weapon.”

The ultimate goal that the European organizers of the meeting set for themselves clearly failed.

It was not possible to concoct a unanimous and “decisive” condemnation of Moscow. And European media noted that disagreements over the conflict in Ukraine overshadowed the finale of the summit. As they say, the swing was worth a ruble, but the blow was worth a penny. Although, of course, among Latin American countries there are states (for example, Chile) that sharply condemn Russia’s actions in the Ukrainian crisis. However, the anti-Russian forces failed to develop a common position.

As a result, the 27 EU member states and 32 countries from the Celac group, representing Latin America and the Caribbean, participating in the summit agreed on a softened text that expressed only “deep concern” about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine instead of the condemnation of military actions expected in the European Union. in the strongest terms.”

Commenting on the softened communiqué, Celac President and Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves told the press: “Not everyone got the language they wanted.”

This was largely because Nicaragua boycotted the conclusions on the conflict in Ukraine. “This did not come as a surprise,” notes EUobserever, recalling that President Daniel Ortega, who has ruled the Central American country since 2007, became one of the first world leaders to support Russia’s actions in Ukraine in 2022.

Nicaragua was also the only Celac country to vote against the UN resolution condemning Russia’s SVO and calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, while Cuba, Bolivia and El Salvador abstained.

The adoption of the final document of the EU-Latin America summit was also influenced by the position of Cuba, Venezuela and other countries that have friendly relations with Russia. It is not for nothing that, on the eve of the summit, members of the European Parliament were worried about the participation of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela in this meeting. They even declared with all their democratic principles that “autocratic regimes” should not be invited to such events.

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“Europe wants Latin America to side with it against Vladimir Putin. Good luck with that,” the headline of the publication in Politico has a thick layer of mockery.

Because the article begins “for peace”: “In the struggle for hearts and minds against Russia, Europe has set its sights on a new goal. Unfortunately for them, Latin America is not listening to them.

The extended charm offensive against senior diplomats from major European countries and institutions was aimed at winning over neutral Latin American countries as part of a broader geopolitical battle with Russia and China.”

In this regard, Politico mentions, for example, the week-long tour of British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley to Brazil, Colombia and Chile. This is, by the way, the first visit of the head of the British Foreign Office to the region in the last five years. And don’t go to a fortune teller here – it was caused precisely by the desire to lure Latin Americans to the side of the West in the global confrontation with Russia.

And the point here is not only the desire of Western countries to gain additional points on the diplomatic front or the desire to attract new participants in the sanctions pressure on Moscow.

South America, Politico notes, has drawn particular attention from Western leaders in recent months as Ukraine’s allies scour the world for critical minerals for high-tech supply chains, as well as munitions and weapons to help Kiev retake Russian-occupied territory. For example, in Chile and Brazil there are hundreds of German-made Leopard tanks of the same type that the West transferred to Ukraine in recent months. Colombia and Brazil have Russian-made military equipment, including MiG transport helicopters and anti-tank missiles, that would be easy for the Ukrainian army to operate.

It is no coincidence that Zelensky tried to encourage Brazil to support his country with a speech at the G7 summit, partly addressed to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. But then the Kiev president received a beating – the bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Lula was cancelled. And in a conversation with Politico, a Brazilian source ruled out any increase in support for Kyiv.

“In an ideal world, the British would like Brazil to join the sanctions. But they are smart enough to understand that there is no ideal world, and everything is as it is,” the official said ahead of the visit of British Minister Cleverly to his country.

And an official from Chile, when asked whether Britain could convince Santiago to provide military assistance to Ukraine, replied: “This will not happen, not at all… This is a topic that should be decided by major powers, and not what we can do, being at the end of the world.” .

By the way, another European visitor, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, also did not succeed in trying to convince the Brazilians to join in providing military assistance to Kyiv. During his trip in January, tensions flared at a news conference between the two leaders when President Lula said his country was “not interested in transferring ammunition” that could be used in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

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Latin America is not just poor countries where hot brunettes drink tequila and wear sombreros, and mulattoes from Rio wear white pants. This is a huge space stretching from Mexico to the Antarctic latitudes. These are twenty countries that speak Spanish and Portuguese. This is more than 660 million inhabitants. This is a dynamically developing part of the world, whose voice is becoming increasingly heard in our dramatic times of tectonic changes in geopolitics.

And in the new political configuration, our country’s relations with the Latin American world are very important.

“Russia and the states of Latin America traditionally have a lot in common in their views on international issues,” President Putin said at the opening of the international parliamentary conference “Russia – Latin America” recently held in Moscow. – Latin Americans have always strived for independence, and the history of your continent is full of the most striking examples of this. This was the case during the period of struggle against colonialism during the time of the famous Simon Bolivar, who became a symbol of freedom not only for Latin America, but, perhaps, for the whole world, for all humanity. This was the case in the second half of the last century, when the continent gave the world such selfless fighters for justice and social equality as Salvador Allende, Ernesto Che Guevara, Fidel Castro.”

Over the past five years, trade between Russia and Latin America has increased by 25 percent. Russian exports increased 2.3 times – and this includes wheat, fertilizers, petroleum products and many other vital goods. Cooperation between our country and Latin American countries is not only due to trade. As President Putin recalled in his speech at the opening of the Russia-Latin America conference, a Center for Nuclear Research and Technology is being built in Bolivia with Russian participation, joint biopharmaceutical ventures are expanding their activities in Venezuela and Nicaragua, and a metallurgical plant is being modernized in Cuba. And these are just some examples.

The United States has traditionally considered Latin America its “backyard.” So it was in the 19th century, and so it was in the 20th century. But today, even countries in the region that are far from socialist ideas want to be independent players on the world map.

In Washington, it is clear that the desire of Latin Americans to come out from under the stars and stripes is looked at askance. And out of habit, they blame the “evil” Russia for this.

It is indicative how American experts observed the tour of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Latin American countries that took place this spring (during that trip, Lavrov met with the heads of state of Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba). “Lavrov took the opportunity to underscore a key tenet of Russia’s newest foreign policy concept, unveiled last month and shared by regional powers such as Brazil: that the world is undergoing a revolution that will see Western power waning and a new multipolar world emerging,” the report noted. publications of one of the American think tanks.

US analysts also noted that Russia, which is developing relations with Latin America, may be seeking to restore supply chains that have been disrupted by Western sanctions, participating in the ongoing global trend of “friendship,” which is a strategy of insulating economies from disruption by consolidation of critical supply chains in allied countries.

At the same time, even observers unkindly disposed towards Russia were forced to admit that Lavrov, while in Latin America, emphasized that Moscow did not want to create “an artificial dilemma: with us or against us,” based on the position that certain countries took regarding the conflict in Ukraine. True, American experts could not help but accuse our country of trying to use the Ukrainian crisis as a strategic wedge between the United States and its Latin American allies. But it is true that Washington, by encouraging Latin American countries to distance themselves from Russia and support Ukraine, is exhibiting a certain form of intimidation and imperialism.

It would be overly optimistic to think that all of Latin America is “for us.” Everything is much more complicated. For example, Brazil, our BRICS partner, voted at the UN to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, Brazilian President Lula stated that both sides of the conflict are responsible for what is happening.

In addition to BRICS economic cooperation, President Lula is known to have put forward a proposal calling for the creation of a G20-like group of all BRICS countries to negotiate a peaceful end to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

“Russia’s main interest in Latin America is political,” states Kirk Randolph of the United States Institute of Peace. “It aims to influence the region in such a way that it can chart a global path that is immune to US influence.” Russia itself does not have the resources or bandwidth to become a major partner in Latin America that can compete with American investment. But Russia’s arguments for multipolarity resonate across the region and could ultimately influence countries outside the United States, even if the alternative turns out to be China rather than Russia.”

And in this regard, the analyst calls on official Washington to at least adjust its policy towards Latin American countries, abandon the patronizing manner of communicating with them and encourage (at least in words) their desire for independence.

So the attempts of the collective West, led by the United States, to win Latin America over to its side will increase – and our diplomacy must be prepared for this.