Lula visits Lisbon, at odds with Europe on Ukraine

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was again at odds with Europe over Ukraine yesterday while pressing his first European tour since resuming office in January.
The veteran left-winger is seeking to revive his country’s diplomatic ties after four years of relative isolation under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, but tensions have been on display with the West over Ukraine.
Bolsonaro did not visit Portugal, home to around 300,000 Brazilians, during his time in office.
“I wanted to tell you how happy I am,” Lula, standing next to Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa, told a room packed with government officials and reporters. “Brazil spent almost six years, especially the last four, isolated from the world. Brazil is back, to improve our relationship.”
Yesterday Lula again refused to be drawn into the war, calling for a “negotiated” settlement between Kyiv and Moscow more than a year after the Russian invasion.
The Brazilian leader has angered Ukraine by saying that Kyiv shares blame for the war and has not joined Western nations in imposing sanctions on Moscow or supplying ammunition to Kyiv.
Lula said that he did not want to “please anyone” with his views about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said that his aim is to “build a way to bring both of them (Russia and Ukraine) to the table”.
“I want to find a third alternative (to solve the conflict), which is the construction of peace,” he said.
“While my government condemns the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, we support a negotiated political solution to the conflict,” Lula told journalists after meeting Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in Lisbon.
“We urgently need a group of countries to sit round a table with both Ukraine and Russia,” he said. “Brazil does not want to take part in this war. Brazil wants to create peace.”
“President Lula believes the road to a just and lasting peace implies making negotiation a priority,” Rebelo de Sousa said. “Portugal has a different position. We think that for a road to peace to become a possibility, Ukraine must first have the right to respond to the invasion.”
Portugal is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and was among the first European countries to supply tanks to Kyiv.
Lula, a 77-year-old former metalworker who served two previous terms as president from 2003 to 2010, has resisted taking sides over the conflict, neither with Europe and the United States, nor with China and Russia.
He raised hackles during a visit to China this month by saying Washington should stop “encouraging” the war by supplying weapons to Kyiv.
Lula said the United States and European allies were prolonging the war.
He also said the United States and the European Union “need to start talking about peace”.
“If you don’t talk about peace, you contribute to war,” Lula insisted yesterday.
After a flurry of criticism from Europe, Kyiv and the White House, which accused him of “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda”, Lula said on Tuesday that Brazil “condemned” the Russian invasion.
On Friday, he announced that he is sending top foreign policy adviser Cesar Amorim to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, after representatives of the Ukrainian community in Portugal met the Brazilian delegation in Lisbon.
“Brazil is determined to contribute to fostering dialogue and peace, and an end to this conflict,” the Brazilian government confirmed.
Rebelo de Sousa’s comments yesterday were the second in days that took aim at Lula, who was recently named on Time magazine’s list of the world’s most influential people.
“Brazil’s position at the United Nations has always been the same – on the side of Portugal, the United States and the Nato,” the Portuguese head of state said earlier this week. “If Brazil changes its stance, that’s none of Portugal’s business. We will stick to our views and we will disagree.”
Lula signed 13 agreements on technology, energy transition, tourism, culture and education with Portuguese Prime Minister Costa.
Lula’s official trip to former colonial power Portugal – during which the two governments will sign deals on energy, science and education – will be followed by a two-day visit to Spain to meet King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Sanchez.