Brazil announces humanitarian passport for Ukrainian refugees
Brazil will offer a humanitarian passport to welcome Ukrainian refugees, President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday (Feb. 28) in an interview with radio station Jovem Pan. “We will do everything possible to welcome the Ukrainian people,” he said.
According to Bolsonaro, the decree regulating the entry of Ukrainians in Brazil through humanitarian passports shall be published in the coming days. The president also said that Brazil will continue with a neutral position in relation to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Brazil has been clear about its position “in defense of sovereignty, self-determination and the territorial integrity of nations,” the president declared recently.
Sanctions
Bolsonaro stated Brazil shall not impose sanctions on Russia, as a result of the conflict with Ukraine. Brazil has an “enormous dependence” on fertilizers from Russia and, in the event of sanctions, agribusiness would be “seriously affected,” the president added. “I believe these sanctions are unlikely to prosper,” he said.
President Jair Bolsonaro stressed again the Russian government's support for preserving Brazil’s sovereignty on the Amazon in international discussions, and said that without Russian fertilizers, Brazilian agribusiness would be harmed, which could generate food insecurity and inflation of food prices.
Rescuing Brazilians
Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) reported eight Brazilian diplomats were sent to Warsaw, Poland, on Monday (Feb. 28) to help in the process of rescuing Brazilians prevented from returning to their country because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “A support office will be set up in Lviv, Ukraine, for Brazilians who are trying to leave the country”, a statement on social media reads.
