Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva renewed his proposal today, Sunday, to form a group of countries uninvolved in the Russia-Ukraine war for the purpose of mediating peace, revealing an effort to create a coalition of leaders who "prefer to talk about peace rather than war."
He emphasized the need to sit at the negotiating table, stating: "That's enough, let's start talking because war has not brought any benefit to humanity and will never do so," criticizing "the United States and the European Union for their roles in the conflict."
Lula pointed out the "attempt to form a group of countries that have no role in the war to communicate with Russia and Ukraine to convince both sides that peace is the best way to initiate dialogue," adding that the United States and the European Union would also be involved in this matter.
Earlier, Lula stated that the group should consist of countries "that do not encourage war," and mentioned that "countries supplying weapons should be persuaded to stop." He noted that the decision to go to war "was made by two countries," and seemed to place some blame on Ukraine.
His government will host Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the capital, Brasília, tomorrow, Monday.
The United States and the European Union have been providing Ukraine with weapons and various forms of support since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Reports indicated that Germany had requested Brazil to supply weapons earlier this year, but Lula refused.
