Opposition Leader Dr Godwin Friday says it appears as though St Vincent and the Grenadines is being used “like propaganda for Russia” as he responded to the discussions held last week between Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Venezuela.
“The image of that at this time is as if we are becoming like propaganda for Russia,” Friday said on his weekly radio program, adding “This is something that we can’t afford for the image of our country and for the prime minister of our country.
The Opposition Leader said that he knows that St Vincent and the Grenadines has to “deal with countries all over the world…but to have a situation where you’re standing up there and making joint statements at a time when the real matter of serious concern in that country is the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the continuing war there.
“I hope that was a matter that was the first matter of discussion, but it didn’t come out in any of what I saw in that article,” Friday said.
Gonsalves, who is due to inform Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders on Thursday regarding his meeting with the Russian foreign minister, said that Lavrov was touring Latin America and held talks in Brazil with President Lula da Silva “about putting together what you call a club of countries of and for peace to see if we can have the matter, this war in Ukraine…”
He said the Russia-Ukraine war is “going on too long and there is too much suffering there by the combatants, too much money is spent on it by NATO, lives lost, injuries, dislocations and the knock-on effect of what is taking place there and the sanctions which follow, the knock-on economic effect — rising prices, rising interest rates, making life harder for people”.
Gonsalves said the ongoing conflict, which began in February 2022, “is a matter of great importance and I have organized that I can go and speak to the foreign minister of the Russian Federation precisely on this very question of peace”.
But Godwin Friday told his radio listeners that “you can’t just be standing up there and saying that you are friends and so on with countries and showing your political leanings, leftist political leanings one way or another.
“In those situations, you have to look out for the interests of the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines irrespective of your own personal feelings,” he said adding that the island awaits more information about the meeting.
“And I want to know how is it that you didn’t hear him, Ralph, bragging about it and talking about it, as he normally does? And this is a situation that we have to monitor very carefully to make sure that our name of the country… St Vincent and Grenadines is not squandered and we don’t be perceived as being closely aligned with a government that 143 nations at the UN condemned its referendum and annexation of part of Ukraine territory, even St Vincent and the Grenadines voted for that resolution.
“So why are we then now seeming to give political cover or propaganda to Russia by having these joint meetings and declarations from St Vincent and Grenadines. That is something we have to look at very carefully and you’ll hear me speak more about it as I look at the circumstances more thoroughly,” Friday added.
