Brazilian politician criticised for misogynistic comments about Ukrainian women

A right-wing Brazilian politician is being urged to step down after leaked recordings revealed him saying Ukrainian women fleeing war are “easy” due to being impoverished, among several other offensive and sexist remarks.

Arthur do Val, a congressman from Sao Paulo in southeast Brazil, visited western Ukraine last week and was heard saying displaced women he saw on the border with Slovakia were “beautiful” and better looking than those “outside Brazil’s best nightclub”.

The politician, who previously supported Brazil’s far right populist president Jair Bolsonaro, made the remarks during a three-day trip to Uzhhorod last week which was billed as a humanitarian visit carried out in the wake of Russia’s invasion.

In the leaked audio recordings published by Brazilian media, Mr do Val says: “I’ve just crossed the border on foot between Ukraine and Slovakia.

“Bro, I swear to you … I’ve never seen anything like it in terms of beautiful girls. The refugee queue … it’s like 200 metres-long or more of just total goddesses … it’s some incredible shit … the queue outside Brazil’s best nightclub … doesn’t come close to the refugee queue here.”

In the second clip, the congressman can be heard saying: “Let me tell you, they’re easy because they’re poor.”

While in the third recording, he makes derogatory comments about female security officials at the border between Ukraine and Slovakia, before he chips in: “Just unbelievable, dude. As soon as this war’s over, I’m coming back.”

It comes after Mr do Val shared an image of himself surrounded by crates of Molotov cocktails in the border city of Uzhhorod on Thursday last week. While Renan Santos, a Conservative activist who was also on the trip with him, said they supported refugees to cross the border and “filmed the reality of a country at war” as well as giving away thousands of dollars.

Mr do Val’s remarks about Ukrainian women have been fiercely criticised - causing more than 40,000 people to pen an online petition calling for the politician to be expelled from parliament in Sao Paulo.

More than 1.7 Ukrainian million refugees have fled into nearby nations in the wake of Russia’s “full-scale” invasion. The United Nations has branded the situation the fastest-growing refugee crisis to engulf Europe since the Second World War.

Ukraine’s emergency services have warned hundreds of structures, such as hospitals, transport facilities, people’s houses, and nurseries have been wiped out since Russia’s invasion. The number of civilian deaths was estimated to be more than 2,000 by the emergency services on Wednesday last week.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here