The President of the Assembly of the Republic this Friday called for efforts to “expand the international coalition of condemnation of Russian aggression and support for Ukraine” to African and Latin American countries.
In the opening speech of the colloquium “Ukraine 365 days later”, taking place today at the Assembly of the Republic and organized by the parliamentary friendship group Portugal-Ukraine on the day that marks a year of war in that country, Santos Silva began by defending that it is necessary to expand the “international coalition of condemnation of Russian aggression and of support to Ukraine”.
“Political condemnation, diplomatic isolation, are tools in international relations as powerful – and sometimes even more powerful – than economic sanctions or other types of response”to maintain.
The speaker of parliament addressed the resolution, approved by the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, to emphasize that, beyond analyzing the 141 countries that voted in favour, , the main thing is “look at the 30 or so who abstained”.
“Apparently there are six or seven who vote for Russia, but it’s not worth wasting time with them because they are satellites of the Kremlin. Belarus, North Korea, Syria, Iran … it’s the not worth wasting time with them: they are our opponents, as Russia is today,” said Santos Silva, who served as foreign minister from 2015 to 2022.
As for the 30 countries that abstained from this resolution, Santos Silva noted that many of them are in Africa and Latin America, and he often evoked the idea that the war does not concern them because it is in Europe, and because they are dependent, economically or politically, on Beijing and in some cases on Moscow.
According to Santos Silva, these countries must make it clear that the war is “everyone’s business” and that in the case of Ukraine it was “an unprovoked, unjustified, totally illegal action that, if it ends, will violate the conditions” of international coexistence. .
The President of the Assembly of the Republic warned that, if it is accepted that “internationally recognized borders can be changed by force” or if the “spheres of influence theory” is resumed, the international order established after World War II “will cause “.
And this international order was what made possible the independence and development of the nations of the so-called ‘global south’ and therefore they really have a direct interest in prevailing international law, those responsible for aggression are brought to justice and peace maintained response in the only way it can be an answer: with the end of aggression on the part of those who attack and with the end of occupation on the part of those who occupy,” he insisted.
In this talk, which lasts about 15 minutes, Augusto Santos Silva also warned that Ukraine has become a victim of “a very dangerous political discourse” issued by the Kremlin and that it must “fight actively”.
According to the Speaker of the Parliament, this rhetoric is “based on prejudices, on axioms”, which cannot be accepted, namely the idea of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, according to which there are “assumed Russian historical areas” or that it is necessary “to restore the pride of the Russian Empire”.
“None of this has any basis in the reality of things, in the history of things, and all this is very dangerous because history itself has shown that when we fight on the basis of the nationalistic glorifications of the past, our ability to reach a compromise (…) makes much less”, he warned.
On the other hand, Santos Silva also called for combating the idea that Russia is a “besieged homeland” or “a motherland envied by Westerners” and that Vladimir Putin is “anointed with the historic mission of fighting against what he calls “Western degradation’. .
“This idea that somewhere there will be someone with the historical mission to correct us all is an idea that we cannot accept, because it is an idea that is incompatible with democracy, with plurality, with the diversity of people, aspirations, projects, characteristics and values of people,” he defended.
In front of several Ukrainian or Portuguese-Ukrainian citizens—who filled the Senate chamber, some with Ukrainian flags—Santos Silva concluded his speech by stating that while he was trying to persuade “African and Latin American friends” and the political rhetoric of to fight the Kremlin, it is also necessary to “talk more with the Russian people and society”.
“We have no problem with Russian society, people, population, history, literature, culture. We do have a problem with this bastardization of Russian history and soul, which thinks that the only possible expression of the Russian soul and of the Russian history a new, obsolete and unacceptable Russian empire,” he said in a speech that earned the audience’s applause.
Source: DN
