Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited South Africa on Monday for talks with one of his country’s most important allies in a continent divided by the invasion of Ukraine and related Western efforts to isolate Moscow.

The Russian minister said the conflict between Moscow and the West could no longer be defined as a “hybrid war” but was getting closer to reality as he accused the West of sending billions of dollars worth of weapons to Kyiv.

Sergey Lavrov also said that the conditions of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which facilitates the export of Ukrainian grain from the southern Black Sea ports, “are more or less met.”

However, speaking at a press conference during his visit to South Africa, he also noted that Russia still faces problems in exporting its own agricultural products.

At the same time, he said that Ukraine refuses to hold peace talks, and the longer this goes on, the more difficult it will be to resolve the issue.

Notably, Russia has repeatedly said it is open to talks, but Ukraine and the United States say they see no sign that Moscow has talks in mind and suspect it is trying to buy time to regroup after a series of defeats.

Sergei Lavrov also said that Moscow does not want “scandals” over the joint Russian-Chinese-South African naval exercises scheduled for next month.

Speaking during a visit to Pretoria, where he was asked about criticism of the exercises, Lavrov said that Russia had provided all the necessary information about the plans for military gymnasiums.

The head of Russian diplomacy also met with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor. The South African opposition and the country’s small Ukrainian community condemned the trip as “inhuman”.

The government of President Cyril Ramaphosa considers South Africa neutral in the Ukrainian conflict and has expressed a desire to play a mediating role.

“As South Africa, we have consistently stated that we will always be ready to support the peaceful resolution of conflicts on the (African) continent and around the world,” Pandor said in a speech at a joint press conference between the two ministers.

South Africa trades little with Russia, but is a supporter of a worldview espoused by China and Russia that seeks to abolish US hegemony in favor of a “multipolar” world in which geopolitical power expands.

Pandora repeatedly insisted that South Africa would not be drawn into anyone’s cause and criticized the West for condemning Russia while ignoring other issues such as Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

South Africa has declared neutrality in the conflict in Ukraine and abstained from voting on UN resolutions, while maintaining close ties with Russia, a longtime friend of the ruling African National Congress when it was a liberation movement opposed to white minority rule.

The South African military will hold joint exercises with Russia and China on its east coast from February 17 to 27, likely to further strengthen ties with the United States and European countries.

The exercises are timed to coincide with the celebration on February 24 of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last week, the South African military said the exercise was “a means to strengthen the already flourishing relationship between South Africa, Russia and China.”

Russian news agency TASS reported on Monday that a Russian warship armed with a new generation of hypersonic cruise weapons will take part in the exercise.

Lavrov’s second visit to Africa in six months comes ahead of the Russia-Africa summit, which was pushed back to July next year due to the conflict in Ukraine.

There was no official public comment from the Ukrainian embassy, ​​but officials said they had asked the South African government to help advance President Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan, which he proposed to the G20 in November.

Source: Reuters.