RIO DE JANEIRO, July 29. /TASS/. Argentina, Brazil and Mexico refused to join other countries of the Americas in condemning the conflict in Ukraine, according to a declaration approved on Thursday following the 15th Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas held in Brasilia on July 25-29.
"Argentina and Brazil, in accordance with the principles that regulate their foreign policy, recognize the role of the UN in achieving international peace and security and consider this organization as a venue with appropriate authority to resolve the conflict in Ukraine," the statement reads.
Mexico thinks that the situation in Ukraine is not the purview of the CMDA and shares the opinion of Argentina and Brazil with regards to the UN’s role. Meanwhile, Haiti, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Colombia, Paraguay, the US, and Ecuador again "resolutely condemned" military actions in Ukraine, according to the declaration.
The Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas is held every two years. The first meeting of top military officials was conducted in the US in 1995. In all, the representatives of 34 countries participate in the conference.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." Following this, the US and its allies announced the introduction of sweeping sanctions against Russia and stepped up arms deliveries to Kiev.