President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) declared this Wednesday (2) that the leaders of Russia and Ukraine are not ready to negotiate peace. In an interview with international correspondents, Lula reinforced Brazil’s position of seeking peace negotiations to resolve the conflict.
“Brazil is on that list of countries that are looking for a way to use the word peace. two are in that phase of ‘I’m going to win, I’m going to win, I’m going to win, I’m going to win’, you know? Meanwhile, people are dying”, he said.
The PT leader also highlighted the lack of action by the UN Security Council in efforts to prevent the start of the war provoked by Russia.
“This war, if it had been discussed in the UN Security Council, had been taken seriously and, if the UN Security Council had behaved as a global governance, which respected the collective of the world’s countries, possibly we would have come to the conclusion that there doesn’t have to be war, Russia doesn’t have to invade Ukraine,” he added.
Lula also highlighted that Brazil will continue with its efforts to seek ways to carry out peace dialogues, participating in negotiations and meetings that seek a solution to the war.
“Brazil will continue trying to seek peace, trying to find a way so that, when people get tired of the war and want comfort to stop the war, we will have a group of countries willing to talk to them and present a solution. There has to be an agreement and for now nobody wants an agreement”, he added.
Neutrality and trembling with Ukraine
The Lula government’s diplomacy in relation to the war in Ukraine has always been one of reiterated neutrality. Without aligning himself with Western sanctions against Russia, Lula never stopped treating Russian military intervention as illegal and defending peace negotiations as the only possible way of resolving the imbroglio between Moscow and Kiev. His statements, however, differ from the unison tone of the West by not pointing only to the responsibilities of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
In this way, the president managed to navigate the dispute between Moscow and the West without burning bridges and maintaining the line of neutrality and defense of a multipolar world. However, some more emphatic statements generated noise with Ukraine.
Lula has repeatedly denied sending Brazilian weapons to the war. Furthermore, the Brazilian leader has already stated that the war decision was “taken by two countries” and said that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, also bears responsibility for the conflict. The speeches generated criticism from Ukraine and Western countries.
Last week, Zelensky signaled to Brazil that he would like to hold a meeting between Latin American countries to hear Ukraine’s position on the war. In particular, he highlighted that he would accept President Lula’s invitation to visit the country.
Editing: Rodrigo Durão Coelho
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
