Latin America’s broad support for last week’s U.N. resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and a withdrawal of Russian forces was a clear stand in favor of Ukraine’s sovereignty. But if the U.N. vote was cause for celebration, it was also a rare condemnation on regional leaders’ part of Russia’s actions.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s recent meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden was framed as a reaffirmation of the two countries’ recently battered democracies. But if Lula seems like a good fit for Biden’s narrative of a global battle between democracy and autocracy, he also underscores the limitations of this narrative.
BRICS countries all are lending support to Moscow at a time when it has been largely cut off diplomatically and economically from the Western world. But while the group functions as a source of support for Russia, it is important to distinguish the differences in how and why they are offering that support.