Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has canceled his trip to Russia for the upcoming BRICS summit after suffering a head injury, his office announced on Sunday.
Although the exact details of the incident were not provided, local media reported that Lula, 78, fell in his bathroom on Saturday night, resulting in a cut that required stitches.
Following medical advice against long-distance travel, Lula will participate in the BRICS summit via videoconference.
Despite the injury, Lula is expected to resume his regular duties at the presidential palace in Brasilia this week, his office confirmed.
The BRICS summit, which will begin on Tuesday in the Russian city of Kazan, will bring together leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and other partner nations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin convened the three-day meeting to signal that Russia’s war in Ukraine has not left it isolated on the global stage.
This summit was expected to mark Lula’s first in-person meeting with Putin this year after the two leaders discussed a joint Brazilian-Chinese proposal to end the Ukraine war via phone in September.
Lula had been scheduled to depart for Russia on Sunday evening before the injury.
Putin, who skipped the previous BRICS summit in South Africa due to an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, has also announced that he will not attend the G20 summit in Brazil in November, citing concerns that his presence could “disrupt” the conference. However, he dismissed the ICC warrant as a non-issue, claiming such rulings “can be easily bypassed.”
