The United States must stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine and “start talking about peace”, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday after a visit to China where he approached by Xi Jinping.
“The United States must stop encouraging war and start talking about peace, the European Union must start talking about peace,” Lula told reporters in Beijing, before leaving for the United Arab Emirates.
Thus, the international community will be able to “convince” Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that “peace is in the interest of the whole world”, he added.
Visit to China
Lula, who returned to power in January after serving two terms between 2003 and 2010, paid a two-day visit to China to strengthen economic ties with its main trading partner. He also took the opportunity to affirm that Brazil was “back” on the international scene, and hopes to play the role of mediator in the conflict in Ukraine.
His trip to China, which included a more economic part in Shanghai, and a more political part in Beijing – where he met Xi Jinping – comes after his February visit to Washington.
Lula said he was convinced that strengthening ties between Brasilia and Beijing would not damage his country’s relationship with the United States.
Unlike several Western powers, China and Brazil have never imposed financial sanctions on Russia and are both trying to position themselves as mediators.
The Brazilian President defends the idea of a group of countries whose goal would be to work for peace in Ukraine, and before his visit to China, he had promised that this group would be “created” on his return.
Asked about this idea following his meeting with the Chinese president, Lula did not give further details.
“Patience is necessary” to speak with MM. Putin and Zelensky, he simply said. “But above all, we have to convince the countries which supply weapons, which encourage war, to stop”.