Sawt Falasteen - Lula cancels trip to summit in Russia after injuring head

It did not say how the injury occurred but said he was taken to a hospital where doctors found he had suffered a cut to the back of his head and advised him against long-distance travel.

Local media said Lula had fallen in his bathroom on Saturday night, causing a cut that required stitches.

The 78-year-old Lula will, however, participate by videoconference in the BRICS meeting and will carry on his normal duties this week at the presidential palace in Brasilia, his office said.

The three-day summit of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- as well as their partners, will bring some 20 world leaders to the city of Kazan beginning Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin convened the meeting in what some analysts say was a defiant gesture to show that Russia's war in Ukraine has not left it isolated.

Lula had been scheduled to leave Brasilia early Sunday evening for Russia.

The BRICS summit would have been Lula's first face-to-face meeting with Putin this year. In September, the two men spoke by phone to discuss a joint Brazilian-Chinese proposal to end the Ukraine war.

Putin skipped the last BRICS summit in South Africa after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest order for him over Kyiv's complaint that invading troops had illegally deported Ukrainian children to Russia.

On Friday, Putin announced that he would not attend a G20 summit in Brazil in November because his arrival might "disrupt" the conference.

He insisted that the ICC warrant for his arrest was not a factor, saying "that rulings of this type can be got around very easily."

O.Farraj--SF-PST