(CNN) Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that the United States should stop “encouraging” the war in Ukraine.
The United States should stop encouraging war and start talking about peace. The European Union should start talking about peace so that we can convince Putin and Zelensky that peace is in everyone’s interest and war is only interesting, for the time being, for both of them, ”Lula told reporters in Beijing.
Lula also revealed that during his talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, they discussed forming a group of like-minded leaders on Ukraine.
“I have a theory that he has already defended with Macron, the German Olaf Schultz and Biden, and we discussed it at length yesterday with Xi Jinping. We need to form a group of countries willing to find a way to achieve this,” says Lula.
The United States and the European Union were the main suppliers of arms and aid to Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out peace talks as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power.
Lula was in Beijing on Friday for talks with Xi Jinping aimed at restoring relations between China and Brazil, which saw tense times under former leader Jair Bolsonaro.
But it also reveals a growing dimension to the geopolitical issues preoccupying the West.
While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominated most diplomatic conversations in Europe and Washington, Lula’s trip to China focused instead on trade, how Chinese investments could help get the Brazilian economy back on track, and the potentially lucrative world of carbon credits.
Like many leaders of middle and developing countries, Lula has taken a policy of non-interference in the war in Ukraine, rejecting efforts by US President Joe Biden to unite the international community in the face of the Russian invasion.
