RIO DE JANEIRO — In the midst of his brinkmanship over neighboring Ukraine in recent weeks, President Vladimir V. Putin has also been busy trying to expand Russia’s influence thousands of miles away: in Latin America.
He spoke to Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua’s strongman president, for the first time since 2014. He also called the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba. He hosted the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, who vowed during a Kremlin visit to reduce his country’s reliance on the United States.
And on Wednesday — the same day that American officials have said could be the start of a Russian invasion — Mr. Putin is scheduled to meet with President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil. Mr. Bolsonaro is flying to Moscow despite repeated entreaties from American officials in recent weeks that he postpone his trip as the West scrambles to pressure Mr. Putin over Ukraine.
The flurry of personal diplomacy directed at Latin America by Mr. Putin during the most high-stakes period of his tenure often builds on ties that go back to the Cold War and sheds light on the global nature of his ambitions: to exert influence even on faraway regions. He is stepping up engagement and building ties to an expanding swath of the Western Hemisphere — including to countries, like Brazil and Argentina, that have traditionally been close to Washington. » | Jack Nicas and Anton Troianovski | Tuesday, February 15, 2022
