Report: Socialist Lula Snubs Zelensky’s Request to Meet in Brazil, Prolonging Feud

Lula da Silva
AFP
Frances Martel

The Brazilian national newspaper O Globo reported on Monday socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rejected a request from Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to meet with him during a stopover in Brasilia this week.

Lula and Zelensky have a fraught relationship, despite Brazil and Ukraine having no history of any particular conflict. Lula accused Zelensky in May of scheduling a meeting with him at the G7 Summit in Japan and not showing up, wasting the Brazilian’s time. Zelensky said his absence was “definitely not my fault,” but appeared to mock Lula in a press conference in Japan after the failed meeting.

The origin of the tension between Lula and Zelensky appears to be an interview with Time magazine in 2022 where Lula mocked Zelensky as a “nice comedian,” a reference to his acting career before becoming president, and blamed him for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Zelensky had traveled from Kyiv to Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Saturday to attend the inauguration of Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday.

He then flew to Washington, DC, to meet with senior American government officials and members of the defense industry seeking prolonged support for his country in the face of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Before Milei’s inauguration, O Globo reported, Zelensky informed the Brazilian government that he would have a short stopover in Brasilia and requested to meet Lula. Sources allegedly within the Brazilian government described the invitation as last-minute and strange, claiming it was impossible for Lula to meet the Ukrainian president because he was in Rio de Janeiro for a summit of Mercosur leaders (Mercosur is a trade bloc consisting of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay). Zelensky was reportedly in Brasilia from 8:15 p.m. local time to 10:15 p.m. on Saturday.

“This type of meeting at the air base is very rare, without preparation and without advance notice,” O Globo quoted an anonymous diplomat as saying. The newspaper noted, however, that Lula’s official schedule had no engagements in it during the hours that Zelensky was in the country.

Following the missed meeting, Lula did not attend Milei’s inauguration, despite Argentina being one of Brazil’s most important trade and geopolitical partners. Milei, an outsider libertarian who shocked the world by winning the presidency after a political career spanning only two years, had repeatedly insulted Lula as “corrupt” and a “communist,” stating while campaigning that he would not meet with the Brazilian leader. Milei instead invited Lula’s predecessor, conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro, to his inauguration as a special guest.

Argentina's new president Javier Milei is embraced by Brazil's ex-president (2019-2022) Jair Bolsonaro after delivering his inaugural speech at the steps of the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. Libertarian economist Javier Milei was sworn in Sunday as Argentina's president, after a resounding election victory fuelled by fury over the country's economic crisis. (Photo by Luis ROBAYO / AFP)

Argentina’s new president Javier Milei is embraced by Brazil’s ex-president (2019-2022) Jair Bolsonaro after delivering his inaugural speech at the steps of the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (Luis ROBAYO / AFP)

Following the failed attempt to meet on Saturday, Zelensky reportedly irritated Brasilia once again with remarks to TV Globo on Sunday. Asked why he had attended Milei’s inauguration and not Lula’s Zelensky said, “I was not invited. Here, Milei called me and invited me. If they call me to go to Brazil, I will. I have already invited Lula to go to Ukraine.”

Lula’s presidential office claimed that Zelensky had lied and Lula had, in fact, extended an invitation, to which Zelensky replied by sending a deputy prime minister.

This weekend, Lula reportedly refused to attend the Argentine inauguration – or personally congratulate Milei – out of a sense of personal insult prompted by Milei’s public criticism.

“If it were me, I would only [call Milei] after he called to apologize,” Paulo Pimenta, Lula’s minister of the Social Communication Secretariat, told reporters shortly after Milei won the presidential election. “He gratuitously offended President Lula and the gesture of calling to apologize is up to the president-elect.”

Lula issued a statement following Milei’s victory congratulating the people of Argentina but failing to mention Milei by name.

As Milei insulted Lula before his election, Lula had done the same to Zelensky, dismissing the president as a “nice comedian” and declaring him partially responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in an interview before his election to a third term in October 2022. In his prior two terms, which lasted from 2003 to 2011, Lula forged close ties with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, helping establish the BRICS security and economic coalition alongside Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping. South Africa, the “S” in BRICS, joined the coalition later.

Lula and Zelensky have met only once, in September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The two leaders did not issue a joint statement following the meeting or offer many details on what transpired. Both appeared dour in images published of the meeting following the event.

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