Ukraine’s ambassador to Mexico has slammed lawmakers who joined a Mexico-Russia friendship group, asserting that expressing support for Russian President Vladimir Putin as he commands the invasion of her homeland is to “participate in a crime.”
A group of deputies formally established the friendship group on Wednesday at an event attended by Russian Ambassador Viktor Koronelli.
“It’s a disgrace,” Oksana Dramaretska told Milenio Television in an interview. “… To support Putin, declare support for Putin in these times, is to participate in a crime.”
The ambassador acknowledged that most deputies didn’t join the friendship group or attend the event with her Russian counterpart, but those who did will have their decision “on their conscience.”
She also noted that some parties, including the Citizens Movement and the National Action Party, have made “strong declarations” against the creation of the group.
In a separate interview with Radio Fórmula, Dramaretska said that lawmakers who joined the group – most of whom are deputies with the ruling Morena party and its ally the Labor Party – offered their friendship to a “criminal regime.”
“To support the murderers … is to participate in their crimes,” she said. Putin is “a criminal, a person who seems crazy,” the diplomat said.
“What can I say? This brutal, unjustified war, unleashed by Putin’s criminal regime against the Ukrainian people, has already lasted for 29 days. They’re killing our people, destroying our cities,” Dramaretska said.
The ambassador told Milenio TV she understands Mexico’s decision not to send weapons to Ukraine given its non-interventionist foreign policy, and expressed appreciation for the position the country has taken against the invasion at the United Nations.
However, she was critical of its decision not to impose economic sanctions on Russia.
“I’m asking the government of Mexico to consider applying sanctions against Russia because to have business as usual with Russia in these times is to support this war, to support the massacre of people,” Dramaretska said.
Meanwhile, data from the National Immigration Institute (INM) shows that the average number of Ukrainians entering Mexico per month has more than doubled this year, presumably due to heightened tension between Ukraine and Russia prior to invasion in late February as well as the outbreak of full blown war.
An average of 2,352 Ukrainians entered the country per month last year, while the monthly average this year – based on data up to March 19 – is 5,037. About 85% of those who came in January flew into Cancún airport, with most of the remainder touching down in Mexico City.
According to the INM, no Ukrainian citizens have sought asylum in Mexico for humanitarian reasons related to the war.
The number of Russians entering Mexico has also increased this year, rising from a monthly average of 6,287 in 2021 to 15,132 this year, a 140% spike.
With reports from Milenio
