Published: Less than 30 min ago
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Brazil.
The visit comes a day after Brazil’s President Lula da Silva took another step to push for peace in the Ukraine war – an initiative that Ukraine and the West have largely reacted coldly to.
On Monday, Lavrov met his Brazilian colleague Mauro Vieira and, among other things, the war in Ukraine was on the agenda.
Viera reiterated that Brazil wants to form a group of countries that can negotiate a peace agreement for Russia and Ukraine.
It was this weekend that the president revealed that he is forging plans to form a mediation group – with China among others – modeled after the G20 superpower club.
Lula da Silva has refused to supply Ukraine with weapons and has repeatedly spoken controversially about Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine – among other things, he has claimed that Ukraine is as guilty of the war as Russia, and that Ukraine should consider giving up the Russian-annexed Crimea for the sake of peace. On Sunday, he also called on the US to “stop encouraging war”.
Lavrov, for his part, claims again that Russia “has an interest” in ending the conflict.
According to the Russian version, the solution to the conflict lies in having to take the “realities” on the ground into account. For Ukraine, peace is only relevant if all Russian forces withdraw from the country, including from the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula.
Later on Monday, Lavrov will also meet Lula.
Brazil is the first stop of Lavrov’s tour of Latin America.