Russian President Vladimir Putin called President Lula on Wednesday morning, the 18th, to show solidarity in fighting the forest fires ravaging Brazil.
Based on a survey by the Ministry of Environment, as of Tuesday evening the 17th, the country had registered 690 fires. In total, 290 were extinguished and 179 were brought under control. Security forces are still working to extinguish 108 other fires.
Minister Marina Silva indicated that there were around 106 fires “active without any resistance, either because they are in remote areas, or because our equipment is difficult to access”.
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In addition to discussing forest fires, the presidents also discussed bilateral relations between countries, as well as peace proposals from Brazil and China regarding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Another point of discussion was the meeting and the topics to be discussed at the BRICS summit, scheduled for October in Kazan, known as the traditional Muslim capital of Russia.
Lula speaks out about “criminal” fires in his country
In the meeting of the Three Powers held on Tuesday, 17, at the Palácio do Planalto, President Lula said he believed that some of the forest fires recorded in the country could be “criminal” and may have “political interests”.
“There are allegations that many fires are criminal in nature,” Lula said. “But the people who are trying to commit these criminal acts, be careful that we don’t play around. Let’s take it very seriously.”
Lula said that “it is impossible for all this to happen” because of COP30 in Brazil, or the fact that the country has “show in environmental discussions around the world.” “Perhaps partly because of political interests,” he analyzed.
“We don’t know, we can’t accuse,” he said. “But there are suspicions, there are. I can’t help but tell you that a very important person in the call for the September 7 event in Paulista said: ‘We will burn Brazil or Brazil will burn’, something like that.”
Without naming names, the president referred to Silas Malafaia’s call for a demonstration on September 7 on Avenida Paulista. In the video, the priest said that Brazil “will burn,” but without referring to the fire.
