Supporters of Brazil’s right-wing ex-president Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in Brasilia on Sunday, one week after the inauguration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Russian officials offered support for Lula, who now presides over the country that like Russia is a member of the club of BRICS emerging economies:
— Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the upper-house Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee:
“I was in Brazil when Lula was inaugurated and saw everything with my own eyes: there were no signs of disturbances at all. What happened now is difficult to explain and, from my point of view, non-systemic.”
Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Kosachev said: “It’s a strange and senseless ‘putsch into nowhere’ in Brazil… What remains is to wish the far-flung and yet close Brazil the restoration of law and order, stability and prosperity, and to wish Lula da Silva confidence in his rightness and consistency in his actions.”
— Andrei Klishas, chairman of the Federation Council’s Constitutional Committee:
“The political crisis in Brazil must be resolved within the framework of the country’s constitution. A coup d’etat cannot be a way out of a political crisis, this is true for both Brazil and Ukraine,” Klishas said, referring to Ukraine’s Euromaidan revolution of 2014 that ousted Kyiv’s Russia-friendly president.
— Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman:
“We condemn in the strongest terms the actions of the instigators of the riots and we fully support Brazil’s President Lula da Silva.”