Brazil’s president this Saturday, at the end of a visit to China, defended that the United States should stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine and that the European Union should “start talking about peace”.
“The United States must stop encouraging war and start talking about peace, the European Union must start talking about peace,” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told reporters in Beijing before leaving for the United Arab Emirates.
In this way, he explained, the international community will be able to “convince” the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, that “peace is in the interest of the whole world.”
Lula, who returned to power in January after two terms in office between 2003 and 2010, paid a two-day visit to China to strengthen economic ties with its main trading partner. He also took the opportunity to say that Brazil was “back” on the international scene, which hopes to play a role in mediating the conflict in Ukraine.
The leader will now have to perform a delicate balancing act between the United States, with which he has strong ties, and China.
The trip to China, with a more economic part in Shanghai and a more political part in Beijing, where he met Xi Jinping, came after a visit to Washington in February.
Lula said he was confident strengthening ties between Brasilia and Beijing would not harm his country’s relationship with the United States.
Unlike several Western powers, China and Brazil have never imposed financial sanctions on Russia and both try to position themselves as mediators.
The Brazilian president promotes the idea of a group of countries aiming to work for peace in Ukraine, and before his visit to China he promised that this group would be “created” when he returned to Brasilia.
“Patience is needed” to talk to Putin and Zelensky, he said. “But above all, we must convince the countries that supply weapons, that encourage war, to stop,” he added.
However, Brazil’s foreign ministry announced on Friday that the main topics of the meeting between the heads of Brazilian and Russian diplomacy in Brasilia on Monday will be the war in Ukraine and the development of possible partnerships.
During Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s first trip to Brazil since 2019, the two diplomats will discuss “the potential of the Brazil-Russian strategic partnership (…) and the prospects for cooperation in areas of common importance, with a focus on trade and investment, science and technology, environment, energy, defence, culture and education, as well as strengthening political dialogue on bilateral, international and regional issues,” the Itamaraty said in a statement.
Sergei Lavrov will be in Brasília on Monday, where he will be received at the Itamaraty Palace by his counterpart, Mauro Vieira.
“The visit will also be an opportunity to address the conflict in Ukraine. Brazil has defended in international fora and bilateral contacts the immediate cessation of hostilities and the importance of joining diplomatic efforts to achieve a peaceful negotiated solution. facilitate,” he added.
Source: DN
