President of Ukraine also wants meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi; in common, Brazil and India still maintain a position of neutrality regarding the war
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is going to meet the G7, a group of some of the main economic powers in the world, in Japan, and wants a meeting with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT). The idea is to have a bilateral meeting and talk about the war in Ukraine. The information was confirmed by members of the Itamaraty accompanying the meeting.
In addition to Lula, Zelensky sought out the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, for a meeting of the same nature. In common, both India and Brazil have maintained a position of neutrality regarding the conflict in Europe.
Lula has said that he wants to create a “peace club“ with countries willing to mediate the end of the conflict. So far, there has been no sign of support from Russia or Ukraine for the proposal. Other powers also showed no interest in joining the group.
On April 16, Lula said, during a visit to the United Arab Emirates, that the fault of the war was “of the 2 countries“. A week later, on April 22, on a visit to Portugal, he denied having equaled the 2 countries and said that “russia made a mistake“.
The main objective of the meeting with Lula is to have a photo next to the Brazilian. It will be a way of maintaining a certain pressure on Brazilian positions vis-à-vis global public opinion.
final statement
Itamaraty acted, before the meeting, so that the final declaration of the meeting was not as harsh as to Russia. The joint failed. The tone will be harsh. Some people at Itamaraty who are involved with other foreign ministries at the meeting said that it will be “hard”.
The idea of European countries and the United States is to create a kind of isolation cordon for Russians. New sanctions will be announced.
One of the terms used in the discussions is that of “economic coercion“. The possibility is that countries with neutral or favorable positions towards Russia in the war will begin to suffer pressure, but not sanctions.
sanctions
The G7 countries announced this Friday (May 19, 2023) new sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine. The group is gathered in Hiroshima, Japan.
A senior White House official told the newspaper Financial Times that the new package of restrictions “will make it even harder for Russia to fuel its war machine”. Sanctions aim toputting pressure on the Russian financial sector and Russian energy production capacity in the medium and long term”, he completed.
The United States is to announce a ban on exports to 70 entities from Russia and apply 300 sanctions to “individuals, organizations, vessels and aircraft”.
LULA
The president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) is one of the guests at the G7 summit. He arrived in Hiroshima on Thursday (May 18, 2023). In addition to participating in debates, Lula will have at least 7 bilateral meetings during the trip.
According to Financial TimesAs well as seeking to bolster Western support, Zelensky wants to reach out to non-G7 participants such as Brazil and India during the summit.
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