Brazilian President Jair BolsonaroRIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 25Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro refuted the words of the vice-president of the country, General António Hamilton Mourão, who a few hours earlier sharply criticized Russia for a military special operation in Ukraine. The president's name is Jair Messias Bolsonaro, period, with all due respect to the person who said this, and I saw the tape, he says what he shouldn't, it's not his competence, it's our competence,» Bolsonaro said during a live broadcast on Mourau earlier Thursday compared Russia's actions in Ukraine to Nazi Germany's strategy, said Brazil «does not accept an invasion» of Ukraine, and called for measures beyond sanctions. Before speaking out on the Ukraine conflict, Bolsonaro said he himself consults with the heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Brazil, and, if necessary, calls other ministers to make a decision. The President of Brazil under barked that his government was for peace without commenting on the Ukrainian conflict and recalled the positive results of his recent visit to Moscow. «We are for peace, we want peace, we traveled to Russia in peace, we established exceptional contact with President Putin and decided the question of fertilizers for Brazil,» the politician said. Last week, Jair Bolsonaro made an official visit to Russia and stated that Brazil is in solidarity with Russia. Many analysts interpreted these words as agreement with the position of the Russian government regarding the conflict in Ukraine. On Thursday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided on a special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to the Russians, he said that the circumstances «require decisive and immediate action from us, the people's republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.» According to the Russian leader, all responsibility for the bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine. He urged the Ukrainian military not to follow the criminal orders of the Ukrainian authorities, lay down their arms and go home. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the Russian Armed Forces do not launch any missile, air or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine: military infrastructure, air defense facilities are disabled by high-precision weapons , military airfields and aviation. The ministry assured that the civilian population is not in danger.
