“What is going on in the world?” Ukraine’s war: A turning point in Russia's influence in Latin America?

After the Soviet Union’s collapse and its precipitous withdrawal from Latin America in the early 1990s, Soviet influence has shrunk in Latin America. Russia slowly worked its way back to the region. At the dawn of a new century, re-engagement with Latin America picked up pace and Russia gradually began to repair ties with former client states and invest in new partnerships. This culminated in the 2010s with more high-level visits, increased trade, military exercises, scholarships for students, augmented presence in the information space, arms supplies and diplomatic protection of regional clients. This ‘comeback’ calls for a thorough reassessment of Russia’s posture in Latin America and its wider implications for Europe. And the Russian war against Ukraine raises the question of what consequences this aggression entails for the Russian ambitions in Latin America. 

These questions will be discussed by Stanislav Secrieru, Senior Analyst at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), Paris, and Anna Ayuso, Senior Researcher at CIDOB, in a session presented and moderated by Carmen Claudín, Associate Senior Researcher at CIDOB.  

>> The event will be held in English and Spanish with simultaneous translation and will be streamed live at CIDOB’s YouTube channel.