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The former left-wing president and current presidential candidate of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva claimed, without evidence, that the European Union, President Biden, and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are “guilty” of causing the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “shouldn’t have invaded Ukraine. But it’s not just Putin who is guilty. The U.S. and the EU are also guilty,” Lula said in an interview published Wednesday by Time, of which he is on the cover.
“What was the reason for the Ukraine invasion? NATO? Then the U.S. and Europe should have said: ‘Ukraine won’t join NATO.’ That would have solved the problem,” added the former president, whose critics to Putin were mild during the interview.
Lula, leader of the leftist Workers’ Party and who governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010, accused Biden, the EU, and Zelensky of not holding enough dialogue to avoid the armed conflict in Ukraine.
Lula, who aspires to the presidency in the October elections, when he will face Jair Bolsonaro, pointed out that Zelensky, with whom he was particularly harsh, “did want war” and “is as responsible as Putin” for it.
“[Zelensky] did want war. If he didn’t want war, he would have negotiated a little more. That’s it. I criticized Putin when I was in Mexico City [in March], saying that it was a mistake to invade. But I don’t think anyone is trying to help create peace. People are stimulating hate against Putin. That won’t solve things!” he added.
The progressive leader accused the Ukrainian president of behaving “a bit weird” and believing himself to be “the cherry on your cake.”
“We should be having a serious conversation: ‘OK, you were a nice comedian. But let us not make war for you to show up on TV,’” Lula commented.
“And we should say to Putin: ‘You have a lot of weapons, but you don’t need to use them on Ukraine. Let’s talk!’” he added.
Lula also criticized Biden for not having “taken the right decision on the war between Russia and Ukraine” and stressed that, because of its importance, the United States “could have avoided” the conflict, not “incited” it.
“He could have talked more, participated more. Biden could have taken a plane to Moscow to talk to Putin. This is the kind of attitude you expect from a leader. To intervene so that things don’t go off the rails. I don’t think he did that,” he argued.
The leftist leader has been an ideological political partner of the dictatorial regimes of Venezuela and Cuba.
