Lula rejects the invitation to Russia and Putin is “open” to the peace dialogue

(CNN) — The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, rejected an invitation from his counterpart Vladimir Putin to visit Russia, he declared on Friday. Lula said that Putin invited him by phone to visit the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“I replied that I cannot go to Russia at this time, but I repeated Brazil’s availability to, together with India, Indonesia and China, talk with both parties to the conflict in search of peace,” Lula tweeted.

In turn, Putin said that Russia is open “to dialogue on the political and diplomatic path, which continues to be blocked by Kyiv and its Western backers,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Friday, adding that the phone call was initiated by the party Brazilian.

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The two heads of state also spoke about the recent G7 meeting and the Russian-Brazilian cooperation.

The Kremlin did not mention an invitation to St. Petersburg.

This Thursday, Lula also tweeted that he had spoken by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the “need for peace in Ukraine.”