Just days after US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) chief General Laura Richardson said that the US is trying to convince several Latin American nations to donate Russian-made military equipment to Ukraine, two major South American countries refused to toe the US line.
Argentina and Brazil have said that they are not planning to supply weapons to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.
Argentina President Alberto Fernandez said that neither Argentina nor any other Latin American countries are planning to supply weapons to Ukraine or any other conflict zone.
“Argentina and Latin America are not thinking about sending arms either to Ukraine or to any other conflict zone,” Fernandez said.
His statement came following his meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.
Earlier, the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also rejected the request of the German government for the supply of ammunition for Leopard tanks.
The decision of two major South American countries comes as a big jolt to the US and its European allies as they are trying to drum up support in their quest to corner Russia.
Incidentally, last year too, Argentina and Brazil, along with Mexico, refused to toe the American line and speak out against the conflict in Ukraine.
“Argentina and Brazil, in accordance with the principles that regulate their foreign policy, recognise the role of the UN in achieving international peace and security and consider this organisation as a venue with the appropriate authority to resolve the conflict in Ukraine,” according to a declaration following the 15th Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas held in Brasilia on July 25-29, last year.
Mexico thinks that the situation in Ukraine is not within the purview of the CMDA and shares the opinion of Argentina and Brazil concerning the UN’s role.
On February 24, last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address, said that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics, he had decided to carry out a special military operation to protect people “who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years”.
Following this, the US and its allies announced the introduction of sweeping sanctions against Russia in an attempt to cripple it economically. The West also stepped-up arms deliveries to Kiev.