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Brazil backs away from Ukraine ‘peace club’ proposal for China, US, EU and others to help end war
- Turkey and India also among countries eyed as potential peace brokers, but sources say initiative received chilly response from China’s Xi Jinping
- Latin American country’s foreign minister now claims Brazilian President Lula ‘never proposed such a thing’ despite earlier statements
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Igor Patrickin New York
The Brazilian government has backed away from the idea of creating a “peace club” to mediate in the war in Ukraine – a project that had been discussed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva since last year when he was running for office.
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The Brazilian government had proposed inviting China, Turkey, India, the European Union and the United States to mediate a potential peace process between Kyiv and Moscow.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira addressed the topic at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, soon after the first meeting between Lula and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to Vieira, “there was never a proposal for a ‘peace club’, president [Lula] never proposed such a thing”.
“We only want to promote the possibility of discussing peace. Participating [in the negotiations] is another matter. If we are invited, we will be there, as we were in the Copenhagen process,” Vieira said, referring to the summit held in June in the Danish capital to discuss a way out of the war.
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