RIO DE JANEIRO, September 18. /TASS/. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed a plan to settle the conflict in Ukraine that was developed by Brazil and China, the South American president’s office said in a statement.
"The two presidents talked about the meeting and the subjects to be discussed at the BRICS summit next month in Kazan, as well as bilateral relations between the countries. In addition, they spoke about the peace proposal of Brazil and China to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine," the statement said.
According to the statement, the Russian president also expressed solidarity with Brazil in connection with the forest fires. Earlier, Putin said that he spoke with his Brazilian counterpart on September 18 and passed along his greetings to the participants of the Eurasian Women's Forum.
The Brazilian news website Metropoles reported earlier, citing the secretary for multilateral political affairs at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Carlos Marcio Cozendey, that representatives of Brazil and China would put forward on the sidelines of a high-level week of the UN General Assembly in New York a jointly developed peace proposal for resolving the conflict in Ukraine.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the Brazilian president’s foreign policy advisor, Celso Amorim, met on May 23 and issued a joint statement saying that the only way to resolve the conflict in Ukraine is through dialogue and negotiations. China and Brazil suggested holding an international conference at an appropriate time that would have "equitable participation of all sides and discussion of all peace plans." Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said previously that Russia welcomed the peace initiative of Brazil and China.
On September 12, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky sharply criticized the plan of Brazil and China to settle the conflict, describing it as destructive. In response, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it is not up to Zelensky to attack the peace plan of China and Brazil because the West will ultimately make a decision for Kiev.