Lula sends Celso Amorim to talk to Zelensky “for peace”

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva confirmed this Saturday that his adviser and former minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Amorim, will travel to Kiev next week to meet with the president of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelensky, and discuss “how to achieve peace”.

Lula announced Amorim’s trip during a press conference in London, after attending the coronation of King Charles III.

Amorim went to Moscow a little over a month ago to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Lula explained that he will now do the same with Zelensky, all within the scope of the Brazilian government’s efforts to seek negotiation alternatives.

“It is necessary to end the war and create an environment for negotiation”, but for that “it is necessary to stop shooting”, said Lula, who since the beginning of the conflict has insisted that “there are very few who speak of peace”.

The representative revealed that, in the context of the coronation of Charles III, he had a brief meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, with whom he agreed to talk by phone in the coming days, to present his vision regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Lula said he will tell him “the same thing” that he has already said to other European leaders, to the president of the United States, Joe Biden, and to the Chinese president, Xi Jingping: “There are many people who talk about war and few people who talk of peace”.

The Brazilian president proposed the creation of a group of countries that could act as mediators between Russia and Ukraine, in order to reach a “ceasefire” that would lead to a round of negotiations.

However, most Western countries do not agree with this proposal, which, according to the United States and Europe, would put “the aggressor and the attacked” on the same level.

Criticism of the PT’s stance

Lula was criticized during a visit to Portugal at the end of April for claiming that Ukraine was co-responsible for the war that was provoked by Russia. He later tried to backtrack on the allegation and denied having “equalized” responsibility for the conflict, but returned to criticize Ukraine. “Russia doesn’t want to stop, Ukraine doesn’t want to stop,” the president said.

In the same speech given in Portugal, the Brazilian president stated that the country would remain neutral and did not intend to support either country. Although he spoke about the desire for “neutrality”, Lula’s allegations put him in a position favorable to Russia in the war.