Lula met the Russian president numerous times in the 2000s during his first presidential term and has called him a “great and dear friend”.
On Sunday, residents in Trofimov’s city of Sergiev Posad and the rest of the country will cast their ballots in a presidential vote where the outcome is a foregone conclusion.
Should the Venezuelan leader step down or die, an election would be held within 30 days and would probably pit Maduro against opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chávez in a presidential election in October.