The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin has expressed congratulation to Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday following the leftist ex-president narrowly won a challenging runoff against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
Following the electoral officials of Brazil called the election for Lula with 50.9% of the overall vote versus 49.1% for Bolsonaro, Putin added in a Telegram post, which was released by the Kremlin,, reading that, “The results of the vote have assured your high political authority.”
“I expect that through our efforts together, we will ensure the coming development of constructive Russian-Brazilian cooperation on every fronts.”
Moreover, Brazil is a member of the BRICS cross-continental group of emerging economies that also includes India, China, Russia and South Africa.
Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine made Russia the world’s most-sanctioned nation, has pushed for stronger relations with BRICS nations as economic penalties from the West forced Moscow to seek new markets.
Lula, who left office back in 2010 as one of the most popular presidents in the history of Brazil, fell into disgrace when he was jailed for 18 months on controversial, since-quashed corruption charges, as well as now returns for an unprecedented third term at 77-year-old.
It is likely to expect that eyes will now be on how Bolsonaro & his supporters react to the result, after months of alleging — without evidence — that Brazil’s electronic voting system is flooded by fraud & that the courts, media as well as other institutions had conspired against his far-right movement.