The charge d’affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy in Brazil, Anatoliy Tkach, said he hoped Brazil would strongly condemn the Russian attack on Ukrainian territory. He also considers it important that economic sanctions be imposed by the Brazilian government.
This evening, Brazil voted in favor of the United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, the resolution was not passed by a vote against Russia, which is part of the council.
The in charge treated the Russian action as a violation of international law. “It’s not a question of supporting one country or another. It’s a question of being in favor of democratic values,” he added.
Tkach highlighted that economic sanctions have already been imposed on Russia by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. He urged other countries to take similar measures of solidarity with Ukraine. He also asked for support by sending weapons and financial resources.
The war between Ukraine and Russia has deep roots. In 2014, a government closer to Russian politics was overthrown as a result of population protests and replaced by another aligned to the west. The opposition celebrated the episode as a revolution, while then-President Viktor Yanukovych considered it to have been the victim of a coup d’état.
Russian President Vladimir Putin maintains acting in defense of the Russian population of Lugansk and Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine. he had already recognized the declarations of independence made by separatist movements in these two regions. In recent months, Putin has also justified military moves as a reaction to the approximation between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a former military alliance articulated by the United States and other Western countries in the midst of the Cold War.
For its part, the Ukrainian government claims that there was a violation of your sovereignty and accuses Russia of having imperialist projects in the region. In 2014, Crimea, until then another region of Ukraine, was attached to the Russian Federation.
nuclear risk
Anatoliy Tkach also lamented the takeover of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant by the Russian military. This is a restricted and monitored area due to the disaster that occurred in 1986, when the explosion of a reactor immediately caused dozens of deaths and required the evacuation of 48,000 inhabitants from the surroundings. To this day the extent of the impacts is not fully known and it is not known how many people have developed problems as a result of exposure to radiation.
“Russian forces do not allow nuclear plant personnel to work. It is a serious breach of technical safety standards,” Tkach said. Devices that measure radiation would have, he said, detected higher than normal levels. “Since we don’t have access to the territory, we believe this is caused by the movement of heavy Russian military equipment and the suspension of radioactive dust in the air,” he said.
Despite the concerns, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a statement on its website stating that the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant remains within safety parameters. The body was informed of the situation by Ukraine and asked that the safe and secure operations of the facilities not be affected or disrupted.
“The readings reported by the regulator – up to 9.46 microSieverts per hour – are low and remain within the measured operational range in the Exclusion Zone since it was established and therefore pose no danger to the public,” the note reads. IAEA. The agency said it will closely monitor the situation and provide regular updates.
*Article changed at 21:10 for clarification of information
