The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvarevealed this Friday that he had a telephone conversation with the Russian president, Vladimir Putinin which he rejected an invitation to travel to Moscow “at this time”, although he reiterated his willingness to mediate in the talks “in search of peace” with Ukraine.
“I just spoke on the phone with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. I thanked him for an invitation to go to the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburgand I replied that I could not go to Russia at the moment, but I reiterated Brazil’s willingness, together with India, Indonesia and China, to dialogue with both sides of the conflict in pursuit of peace,” Lula wrote on Twitter.
Putin, for his part, highlighted after the conversation that “Brazil is Russia’s main trade and economic partner in Latin America”according to the Russian news agency Sputnik.
He also stressed that “although the volume of business between the two countries decreased slightly due to the difficulties, in general the potential is very good, and last year was a record.”
Now I am talking by phone with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. I thanked an invitation to go to the International Economic Forum in São Petersburg, and replied that I cannot go to Russia at this time, but I reiterate that I am available to Brazil, together with India, Indonesia and…
– Lula (@LulaOficial) May 26, 2023
The conversation took place a week after Lula visited Japan to participate as a guest in a meeting of the G7 (most developed economies).
There, the Brazilian president condemned the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and regretted that neither of the two opposing countries was willing to talk about peace at that time.
At that same appointment, the president was scheduled to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenski, but the meeting was frustrated due to his schedule problems.
The Brazilian president has always been reluctant to condemn the Russian incursion into Ukraine and caused some controversy last month by declaring that the United States must stop “encouraging war”
In April, Lula proposed creating a format similar to the G20 to discuss the situation in Ukraine and thus end the conflict.
