RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brushing off pressure from traditional ally the United States and within his own cabinet, Bolsonaro decided to go ahead with meeting Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a visit he says is about building trade relations.
Bolsonaro highlighted the priority areas of cooperation with Russia planned to be discussed during the forthcoming visit to Moscow.
“Brazil depends to a significant extent on fertilizers from Russia and Belarus. We will travel with a group of Ministers to discuss other matters as well. Our country is interested in cooperation in energy, defense and agriculture,” Bolsonaro said during a stream on social networks. The President also expressed hope that “peace for all will be established in the world.”
Bolsonaro’s visit to Moscow is planned for February 15-17. Talks of the Brazilian leader with Russian President Vladimir Putin are planned for February 16. Bolsonaro also plans to meet speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and take part in the event with attending representatives of business communities of the two countries.
The first Russian-Brazilian meeting in the “two plus two” format (Foreign and Defense Ministers) will also take place as part of the visit of the Brazilian delegation to Moscow, spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said earlier.
Russia made the invitation in late November, when tension over Ukraine was already building.
Bolsonaro accepted, deciding to combine it with a visit to fellow far-right leader Viktor Orban in Hungary, where he will travel Thursday.