"The nearest opportunity for a meeting [between the two leaders] could be at the BRICS summit in South Africa. Since Lula's election, they have already contacted twice, and president Putin received special envoy Celso Amorim to discuss the Ukraine conflict and peace prospects," Vieira said, commenting on Lula's plans to meet with Putin.
Since Lula's election last year, he has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov three times, with the bilateral dialogue on the conflict in Ukraine actively taking place in different formats, Brazil's top diplomat added.
On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked whether Putin would attend the BRICS summit this year that the format of the event had not been fully decided upon, with discussions continuing on the matter.