Brazil's Lula to send advisor to meet with Zelensky in Kiev: Minister
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Brazil's special advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim, will travel to Kiev to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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Brazil's former Foreign and Defense Minister Celso Amorim attends a news conference after meeting with US White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Brasilia, Brazil December 5, 2022 (Reuters)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will send his top advisor, former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, to Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of Brazil, Marcio Macedo, announced on Friday.
"As determined by the President of the Republic, the special advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim, will travel to Kiev to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky," Macedo tweeted.
Por determinação do presidente da República, o assessor especial para Assuntos Internacionais, Celso Amorim, vai a Kiev para um encontro com o presidente Volodymyr Zelensky. pic.twitter.com/u4Y23JqRdJ
— Marcio Macedo (@MarcioMacedoPT) April 21, 2023
Earlier this week, Amorim said in an interview for the Folha de Sao Paolo newspaper that arms supplies to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia are not contributing to dialogue and are prolonging the conflict.
At the start of April, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Amorim and renewed the invitation to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to visit Russia.
Amorim was scheduled by the government to receive Ukrainian representatives in Europe at the Brazilian embassy in Lisbon on Friday.
The representatives delivered a letter to Lula in which they asked for greater involvement by Brazil in mediating peace in the conflict.
"I informed the association of Ukrainians here in Europe that the former Foreign Minister – now strategic advisor for International Affairs to the President of the Republic and the Brazilian government – will be visiting Ukraine," Macedo told reporters after the meeting.
This comes a week after Lula said during his visit to China that the US should stop "encouraging war" in Ukraine.
"The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace. The European Union needs to start talking about peace,” the Brazilian President said at the time.
On Sunday, Lula said he had discussed joint mediation to end the war in Ukraine with China and the United Arab Emirates, accusing the United States and Europe of prolonging the war.
Lula, who was wrapping up an official visit to China and the UAE after returning for a third term in office, said the two countries and others should join a "political G20" to try to end the war.
"Europe and the US continue to give their way of contribution to continue the war. So they have to sit around the table and say, 'That's enough'," he told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Brazil with Lula, as the US criticized the South American leader's recent remarks.
Lavrov thanked Lula for his offer to mediate peace talks on the 14-month war.
The visit and Lula's recent remarks sparked criticism from the White House.
"In this case, Brazil is parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without at all looking at the facts," US National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
Kirby described Lula's message on the war as "deeply problematic".
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, who also met with his Russian counterpart earlier in the day, shot back, saying, "I don't know how or why he reached that conclusion but I do not agree at all."
