It may have been all meticulously planned for the meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, however, the discussions of the two political men almost didn’t happen due to the refusal of the Brazilian company Vibra Energia to refuel the aircraft of the Russian diplomatic mission with kerosene.
As reported by the news website AeroTelegraph, after the meeting of the G20 leaders in Rio de Janeiro, Lavrov was supposed to fly to the capital of Brazil, where a meeting with President Lula da Silva was scheduled. However, the Russian diplomat couldn’t refuel his government aircraft Il-96. Lavrov had to fly with the aircraft of his Brazilian counterpart.
The report notes that Vibra Energia refused to refuel Lavrov’s plane fearing that it would risk facing new sanctions from the United States. Without additional kerosene, the Russian aircraft wouldn’t have enough fuel for the next flight to Casablanca (Morocco), where it would refuel again before flying to Russia on routes that bypass European airspace.
The Brazilian government consulted with the country’s Air Force regarding the availability of kerosene at Galeão Air Base, but the army reported that it was insufficient.
After the final refusal of refueling, the Brazilian side asked Lavrov to leave his aircraft in Rio de Janeiro and fly to the capital as a passenger on the plane of the Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira. Subsequently, the same plane would return Lavrov to Rio de Janeiro.
On the evening of February 22, Russian media reported that the Russian Foreign Minister flew to Brazil, but without being able to provide further details.
From the start, however, things didn’t go well for Lavrov on his flight to Brazil, Bild comments.
Since European airspace is closed to Russian aircraft, the Russian Foreign Minister had to make a major detour to reach his destination.
Instead of flying directly from Moscow to Rio de Janeiro, he went via Turkey, Morocco, and Cuba to South America, as reported by the German newspaper.
In his meeting with Lula da Silva, Sergey Lavrov “presented Russia’s positions on the conflict in Ukraine,” the Brazilian government said in a press release regarding their meeting in Brazil, which concluded without a press conference.
Participation of a political leader in a company abroad is an offence, says the law
President Lula, for his part, reiterated that “Brazil remains willing to cooperate in efforts to restore peace in Ukraine,” in a written message via Twitter.
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Lula opposes the political isolation of Moscow following the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, noting that Volodymyr Zelensky and Western forces bear responsibility for the outbreak of the armed conflict.
Lavrov participated this week in a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the G20 countries, organized in Rio de Janeiro, as the largest country in Latin America currently holds the rotating presidency.
Twenty-four hours earlier, however, the Russian Foreign Minister told reporters that “some of our Western colleagues at the G20 ministerial meeting attempted to formulate unsubstantiated accusations against the Russian Federation and to ‘Ukrainize’ the agenda in every possible way.”
