When Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in January, many in the West were relieved after four years of Jair Bolsonaro’s reactionary politics. However, when the US and its European allies pressed Lula to take a stance on the war in Ukraine, his response was not what they had hoped for. While Brazil voted in favour of a UN resolution condemning Russian aggression, it did not take a clear side in the conflict. Lula refused to join the anti-Russia camp by joining the sanctions regime or arming Ukraine and continued to toe the neutrality line set by his right-wing predecessor.
From a Global South perspective, Lula’s stance makes sense. He is defending vital national interests related to Brazilian agribusiness and is ideologically consistent with the neutral position Brazil occupies in global politics. However, domestic concerns and diplomatic continuity should not prevent the Brazilian government from extending solidarity to Ukraine, the victim of aggression by a former colonial power.
During his election campaign in 2022, Lula banked on his previous success and raised hopes among Brazil’s poor that his new administration would repeat past socioeconomic policies. However, the situation in Brazil is quite different today, considering the internal political polarisations and difficult economic situation marked by high inflation, slow growth and a sluggish private sector. That is why, when putting together his foreign policy, Lula has to keep in mind the economic interests of industries that contribute large chunks of state revenue.
Brazil under Lula is not alone in pursuing its own interests when considering its position on the war in Ukraine. Governments across the Global South do not want to get involved because they think they stand to lose a lot if they do. Developing nations can ill afford to stoke the crisis further by taking sides in a war that concerns them little and potentially threatens their supplies of grain.
Lula has attempted to establish a geopolitical ground analogous to the non-aligned movement during the Cold War. In foreign visits, he has emphasised Brazil’s neutrality and has called for South-South solidarity, even calling for the de-dollarisation of international trade. He has appealed for peace, proposing a new initiative – a “peace club” in an effort to jumpstart negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
However, Lula’s attempt at conjuring a new non-aligned movement has failed, and in the process, he seems to have lost some of the international standing he had built during his previous terms. If the Brazilian president really wishes to promote multilateralism and uphold international law, then he must unequivocally express solidarity with Ukraine and condemn Russian aggression.