Lula calls Putin and asks Russian to meet Zelensky

In a list published by Kremlin on Wednesday with the names of the members of the delegation that travels to Turkey, Putin is not included. In total, eight people were designated by Moscow for the meeting.

For months, Brazil and China has been working so that the possibility of a meeting was held. But both Kiev and Moscow rejected the idea. Donald Trump’s pressure on Zelensky, however, changed the scenario.

In a note, the Brazilian government confirmed the call and Lula’s request to Putin. The connection, according to Kremlin, occurred while Lula’s plane made a technical stop in Moscow, returning from China to Brazil.

“President Lula talked this afternoon by telephone with President Vladimir Putin. At the time, he congratulated his Russian counterpart for the proposal to open negotiation with Ukraine for Peace,” said Planalto.

“In addition, he reported the bilateral conversation with Chinese president Xi Jinping, which resulted in a joint Brazil-china statement, reiterating the provision of the group of Peace Friends and Global South countries to cooperate for the end of the conflict,” he said.

“The Brazilian president encouraged the Russian President to attend the negotiation meeting between Russia and Ukraine scheduled to take place in Istanbul, on Thursday, May 15, recognizing that the composition of negotiating delegations is a sovereign prerogative of heads of state,” he said.