German Foreign Minister: Many people ask 'Where is Ukraine'

Speaking at an event hosted by the Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) private university in Sao Paulo, Baerbock said that instead of focusing on Ukraine, people were blaming Western countries for abandoning them in their time of need and accusing the West of not caring about the rest of the world. “I hear (this question) all over the world: First, ‘Where were you when we needed you?’ And, ‘Where is Ukraine really?’”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. Photo: AP

According to the head of the German foreign ministry, people in Latin America and elsewhere “perceive the threat of this war differently than we do in Europe”. According to her, ordinary people in Brazil believe that the price of “rice and beans… in the supermarket this week is more important than what is happening in a country 11,000 km away”.

Baerbock also criticized the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev, which is “driving up food prices all over the world,” and called on Brazil to help do “everything possible to ensure that there will eventually be peace in Ukraine.” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office in January, has repeatedly called for peace between Russia and Ukraine. He said the two countries need a mediator to promote peace talks. He also presented his vision of an international “peace club” to resolve the conflict during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in March. Lula also criticized the West’s approach of supplying weapons to Kiev. He said the United States and its allies “had the right to choose not to engage in the war the way they did,” stressing that Washington and Brussels had rushed to support one side of the conflict without “taking the time to try to negotiate.”