Mexico will not retaliate economically against Russia: President

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO CITY (AA) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday that his government will not join recent sanctions against Russia imposed by Western nations.

Lopez Obrador said at a news conference his government would not intervene in Russian economic relations or its companies on Mexican territory.

"We are not going to take any economic retaliation because we want to maintain good relations with all the peoples of the world, and we want to be in a position to be able to talk with the parties in conflict," he said.

In recent years, Mexico has received significant Russian investment such as the oil company Lukoil, which recently acquired 50% participation in an extraction project in the Gulf of Mexico, and also from Aeroflot airline.

He confirmed that his administration has not reached out to the governments of Ukraine or Russia and said Mexico's role cannot go any further than pushing for humanitarian help.

"We are promoting humanitarian aid to reach Ukraine through the UN, but no more than that. We cannot fall into a leading role that has nothing to do with the restraint that should prevail in foreign policy,” he said.

Additionally, Lopez Obrador condemned alleged acts of intervention from Twitter against Russia-affiliated media or users commenting in favor of Russia.

The Mexican leader hoped that Twitter would address the issue, calling it “very serious.”​​​​​​​

"Since yesterday, there have been complaints that whoever has an opinion on this conflict and considers it favorable to Russia, they cross it out or put a legend on their account, that is censorship,” he said. “But I don't know if it's true. Hopefully, Twitter can clarify this because there can't be a double standard. We cannot be talking about freedom while freedom of expression is limited."

​​​​​​​Since the Russia-Ukraine war began last Thursday, it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK and US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Russia.

At least 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed and 400 others, including 26 children, injured in Ukraine, according to UN figures.

Around 660,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the UN Refugee Agency said on Tuesday.