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PRETORIA, South Africa \u2014 Russia was willing to negotiate with Ukraine in the early months of the war, but the United States and other Western nations advised Kyiv against holding talks, Moscow\u2019s top diplomat said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov\u2019s remarks on a visit to South Africa were similar to those made last year by President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. and other Western nations have said that Russia isn\u2019t serious about hammering out a deal to end the nearly year-long war, which began on Feb. 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is well known that we supported the proposal of the Ukrainian side to negotiate early in the special military operation and by the end of March, the two delegations agreed on the principle to settle this conflict,\u201d Lavrov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is well known and was published openly that our American, British, and some European colleagues told Ukraine that it is too early to deal, and the arrangement which was almost agreed was never revisited by the Kyiv regime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia has repeatedly rejected Ukrainian and Western demands that it withdraw completely from Ukraine<\/a> as a condition for any negotiations. U.S. President Joe Biden has indicated he would be willing to talk with Putin, if the Russian leader demonstrated that he seriously wanted to end the invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lavrov is in Pretoria for talks with South African counterpart Naledi Pandor as Russia pushes to strengthen ties with Africa\u2019s most developed country and an historical ally amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa was seen as the most significant of several African nations to take a neutral stance on the war and refuse to condemn Russia\u2019s invasion \u2014 to the disappointment of the U.S. and other Western partners who also view South Africa as pivotal to their plans to build relationships in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lavrov met with Pandor in the South African capital and is expected to visit other African countries on his trip. It\u2019s the Russian minister\u2019s second visit to Africa in the space of six months as Moscow seeks to rally support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine and its impact on Africa\u2019s 1.3 billion people, which includes rising oil and food prices, was expected to take center stage during Lavrov\u2019s talks with Pandor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are fully alert that conflict, wherever it exists in the world, impacts negatively on all of us, and as the developing world it impacts on us particularly as the African continent,\u201d Pandor said before the talks. \u201cThis is why as South Africa we consistently articulate that we will always stand ready to support the peaceful resolution of conflicts in the continent and throughout the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lavrov repeated a claim that he\u2019s made before that the West was responsible for the surge in global food prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa continues to keep strong bonds with Russia following the Soviet Union\u2019s support for the country\u2019s current ruling party, the African National Congress, when it was a liberation movement fighting to end the apartheid system of repression against South Africa\u2019s Black majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That relationship is largely what led South Africa to abstain from a U.N. vote last year condemning Russia\u2019s actions in Ukraine, although a small group of people protested against Russia and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine outside the building where Lavrov and Pandor held talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite South Africa\u2019s expressed neutrality over Ukraine, Lavrov\u2019s visit comes days after the South African armed forces announced they would hold joint drills with the Russian and Chinese navies<\/a> off South Africa\u2019s eastern coast next month, bringing Russian and Chinese warships across the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Monday, Lavrov insisted that the naval exercises would be \u201ctransparent\u201d and follow international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThree sovereign countries will hold drills without violating international law, and I don\u2019t understand with whom this can cause a mixed reaction,\u201d Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency Tass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lavrov visited Ethiopia, Egypt, Uganda and the Republic of Congo on his African tour last year. That was closely followed by a visit to South Africa by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a move seen as a bid by Washington to counter expanding Russian influence<\/a> in a strategically important continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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