BRICS summit, Lula of Brazil wants to meet Putin

The presidents of Brazil and Russia, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Vladimir Putin, are planning a bilateral meeting during the BRICS group summit, which will take place from August 22 to 24 in South Africa, according to what the South American country's foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, told Sputnik.

"I think the first occasion for a meeting could be at the BRICS summit in South Africa, but since the election of President Lula - on October 30, 2022 - they have already communicated twice, in addition to the fact that President Putin received special envoy Celso Amorim in Moscow to discuss the conflict with Ukraine and the prospects for peace," said the official, who answered some questions posed by the Russian news agency.

Vieira also recalled having held meetings with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on three occasions. "So the bilateral and peace dialogue has been taking place at different levels over the past six months," he said. In April, Lula proposed creating a similar format at the G20 (Group of Twenty) to discuss the situation in Ukraine, and earlier that, in late February, he urged non-conflict countries to take responsibility for promoting peace-restoration talks.

In addition, the Brazilian president spoke in favor of Russia receiving "minimum conditions" to end hostilities. Speaking to the RIA Novosti agency, the Brazilian minister, regarding the peace initiative promoted by Lula, said that several countries have expressed their desire to join the Brazilian initiative. "Several countries are ready to join this effort, and an example is the announced initiative of African countries to establish a dialogue with the parties to the conflict. peace we seek,” said Minister Vieira.

Regarding the Ukrainian conflict, the Brazilian government adheres to the position expressed several times by the president: not to send weapons to the balligerents, concluded the head of the Foreign Ministry. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in late February called on countries not involved in the conflict in Ukraine to take responsibility for carrying forward negotiations for a peace solution. In addition, he suggested creating a format similar to the G20 to discuss the situation.

The Brazilian peace proposal has received criticism from the Kiev regime. According to the adviser to the head of the presidential office, Mikhail Podolyak, the Brazilian initiative is "out of touch with reality". Meanwhile, Brazil is resisting heavy Western pressure and continues its policy which sees it return to the international stage since Lula regained the presidency. So the South American country has refused to take sides against Russia and send weapons to the Kiev regime, while at the same time it has returned to being one of the pillars of the multipolar world under construction as it has always been since the establishment of the BRICS group of which Lula was one of the protagonists.