The Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, declined this Friday an invitation to travel to St. Petersburg in a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, days after an unsuccessful meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodimir Zelensky.
“I thanked (Putin) for an invitation to go to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and replied that I can’t go to Russia right now”Lula tweeted regarding this event scheduled for June 14-17.
“But I reiterated Brazil’s willingness, together with India, Indonesia and China, to talk with both sides of the conflict in search of peace,” added the leftist leader.
Lula proposes Brazil as a mediator in an eventual negotiation to end the war between the neighboring countries, unleashed by the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022.
The Brazilian, who has been accused of being soft on Russia over its invasion, clashed with Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, last weekend, when a scheduled bilateral meeting with the Ukrainian ruler failed. it materialized.
Lula said he was “upset” at not having met with his Ukrainian counterpart. But he also stated that there was little point in meeting with Zelensky at this time because neither the Ukrainian president nor Putin show any sign of wanting peace.