Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva came under fire for “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda,” but he made it clear that he disapproved of Russia’s “violation of the territorial integrity” of Ukraine.

‘Brazil parroting Russia, China propaganda’

On Monday, the White House criticized Lula’s remarks during a recent trip to China that Washington was “encouraging the war” in Ukraine and that Kyiv shared blame for the conflict.

While Ukraine also expressed anger at the comments, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the media, “Brazil is parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without at all looking at the facts.”

On Monday, Lula met in Brasilia with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is visiting several Latin American nations this week.

The Brazilian president insisted that while his government “condemns the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine” it also defends “a negotiated political solution to the conflict.”

He was speaking during a lunch in honour of visiting Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. The president’s main foreign policy adviser Celso Amorim described criticism of his boss as “absurd.”

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‘But Brazil condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine’

“We have several points of convergence (with Russia), but at various times Brazil condemned… the invasion of Ukraine,” he said.

Taking notes from the recent development in the Ukraine-Russia war, Brazil has not joined Western nations in imposing sanctions on Russia for its invasion and has refused requests to supply ammunition to Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Lavrov said Russia was “grateful to our Brazilian friends for their clear understanding of the genesis of the situation. We are grateful for their desire to contribute to finding ways of settling this situation.”

Lula has proposed creating a group of countries to mediate in the war.

Lavrov was in Venezuela on Tuesday, and would also visit Cuba and Nicaragua — all countries whose leftist governments are under US sanctions and at loggerheads with Washington.