MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. The majority of Latin American countries do not want to submit to demands by the Biden administration to join sanctions against Russia, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergey Naryshkin said as quoted by the agency’s press service on Monday.
"According to information received by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the majority of Latin American countries display unwillingness to unconditionally submit to the demands of the Biden administration to condemn Russia’s special operation in Ukraine and join the West’s anti-Russian sanctions," his statement said.
Additionally, the statement noted that the US Department of State recognized that within the framework of bilateral contacts Latin American leaders aspire to avoid discussing this subject citing the priority of domestic and regional problems.
According to Russia’s SVR, "Blinken’s agency is seriously concerned that the further attempts to attain the support of Latin American states for the US policy on Ukraine may create obstacles for the promotion of Washington's interests on the Latin American track." This above all means joint efforts on fighting illegal migration, drug trafficking, organized crime as well containing China, the SVR specified.
The agency added that as a result, a real threat has already emerged undermining the Summit of the Americas scheduled for June 6-10 in Los Angeles. "Mexico City, Buenos Aires and La Paz are not fine with Washington’s aspiration to focus this forum on the subject of Ukraine and not to invite the most important regional players - Havana, Caracas and Managua - over their ‘pro-Russian stance’ on the situation around Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service noted. That said, many Latin American leaders are ready to refuse to participate in this summit in person if their colleagues from Cuba, as well as from Venezuela and Nicaragua are not included.
The intelligence agency thinks that the Biden administration has found itself facing a difficult choice: whether to attain the consolidation of Latin American countries under US auspices or to continue pushing for an anti-Russian agenda at the regional level. "So far, common sense has prevailed among Washington’s bosses - the decision was made to temporarily ‘muffle’ the Ukrainian subject in dialogue with the Latin Americans in order to create conditions for the successful upcoming Summit of the Americas," the press service added. Thus, the attempts to impose the West’s policy on Ukraine upon the Latin Americans led to an opposite effect. "Instead of isolating Russia in Latin America, the US and its allies on the Ukrainian issue found themselves in isolation," the statement noted.