Russia was willing to talk to ukraine In the early months of the war, but the United States and other Western countries advised Kyiv not to negotiate, of Moscow the top diplomat said on Monday.
Russian Foreign Minister sergei lavrov comment on the tour South Africa There were similar ones made by President Vladimir Putin last year. The US and other Western countries have said Russia is not serious about a deal to end the nearly year-long war, which began on February 24.
Lavrov said, “It is well known that we supported the proposal of the Ukrainian side to hold early talks in the special military operation, and by the end of March, both delegations agreed in principle to resolve this conflict.”
“It is well known and openly published that our American, British and some European allies told Ukraine that it was too early to make a deal, and that the arrangement that was almost agreed upon could never be reached by Kyiv. Not revisited by the government.”
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Russia has repeatedly rejected Ukrainian and Western demands that it withdraw completely from Ukraine as a condition for any talks. US President Joe Biden has indicated he would be open to talks with Putin if the Russian leader showed he seriously wanted to end the invasion.
Lavrov is in Pretoria for talks with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor as Russia pushes to strengthen ties with Africa’s most developed country and a historic ally amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
South Africa was seen as the most important of many African countries for taking a neutral stance on the war and refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion – much to the dismay of the US and other Western partners, who saw South Africa as a way of building ties. Considered important for plans. in Africa.
Lavrov met Pandor in the South African capital and is expected to visit other African countries on his trip. It is the Russian minister’s second visit to Africa in the space of six months as Moscow seeks to support the rally.
Russia’s war in Ukraine and its effects on Africa’s 1.3 billion people, including rising oil and food prices, were expected to take center stage during Lavrov’s talks with Pandora.
Pandor said ahead of the talks, “We are acutely aware that conflict, wherever it exists in the world, negatively impacts us all, and as a developing world it impacts us particularly on the African continent. ” “That is why as South Africans we make it clear that we will always be ready to support the peaceful resolution of conflicts on the continent and around the world.”
Lavrov reiterated a claim he had made earlier that the West was responsible for the rise in global food prices.
South Africa has maintained strong ties to Russia following the Soviet Union’s support of the country’s current ruling party, the African National Congress, when it was a liberation movement to end the apartheid system of oppression against South Africa’s black majority. .
A UN vote condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine last year caused South Africa to largely abstain, although a small group of people protested against Russia and held a full-scale protest over Ukraine outside that building. invaded where Lavrov and Pandor conversed.
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Despite South Africa expressing neutrality on Ukraine, Lavrov’s visit comes days after the South African armed forces announced that they would hold joint exercises with the Russian and Chinese navies off the east coast of South Africa next month, prompting the Russian And Chinese warships will come to the Indian Ocean.
On Monday, Lavrov stressed that the naval exercises would be “transparent” and follow international law.
Russian state news agency Tass quoted Lavrov as saying, “Three sovereign countries will do the exercise without violating international law and I don’t understand with whom it can cause a mixed reaction.”
Lavrov visited Ethiopia, Egypt, Uganda and the Republic of Congo on his African tour last year. This was followed shortly by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to South Africa, a move seen as an effort by Washington to counter growing Russian influence in the strategically important continent.
This time, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will start an official trip to South Africa on Wednesday after stops in Senegal and Zambia.
Yellin’s arrival in South Africa comes on the same day that another US cabinet minister, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, arrives in Ghana at the start of a three-nation African tour that will also include Mozambique and Kenya.
Biden announced at the end of the US-Africa Leaders Summit in December that he would visit sub-Saharan Africa in 2023, the first visit by an American leader to the region in a decade.
The summit and high-level US visits are aimed at strengthening US ties with Africa, where China has overtaken the US in trade and is aiming to increase its military presence, and Russia’s officials in Mali and the Central African Republic have military ties with
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