UN Security Council did not take war seriously, says Lula

In a meeting with international correspondents, this Wednesday (2), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized the UN Security Council in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Lula did not spare the two presidents of the warring countries, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, for trying to “win” while “people are dying”.

“So far, we haven’t heard from either Zelensky or Putin the idea that we’re going to stop and we’re going to negotiate. For now, the 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 president said that the UN Security Council would not have acted as a forum for “global governance”, which contributed to the outbreak of war. “If this war had been discussed in the UN Security Council, had it been taken seriously and, if the UN Security Council had behaved as a global governance, which respected the collective world countries, possibly we would come to the conclusion that it would not there has to be war, Russia does not have to invade Ukraine,” said the president.

Lula also said that Brazil has been making efforts to seek peace in the conflict. “Brazil is in that hall of countries that are trying to find a way to use the word peace”, she concluded.

Argentina nos Brics

To journalists, the president also defended the entry of nations such as Saudi Arabia, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates into the BRICS. Currently, the bloc is formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and the United States.

Later this month, the presidents of the five Brics countries will meet in South Africa. For Lula, the bloc could decide on adhesions at this meeting. “I think it’s extremely important for us to allow other countries that meet the demands of the Brics to join the Brics. From a global point of view, I think the Brics can play an, I would say, exceptional role”, she declared.

The president also called on Banco do Brics to act differently from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “I think the Banco dos Brics has to be more effective and more generous than the IMF [Fundo Monetário Internacional]. In other words, a bank exists to help save the country and not to help sink the country, which is what the IMF often does,” said Lula.

Banco dos Brics is an institution that brings together contributions from the five countries to finance development projects in these and other nations. Currently, the bank is chaired by Dilma Rousseff.

Read also: In Russia, Dilma meets Putin and African leaders