Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who is in SA on a charm offensive, has praised the government’s stance on his country’s war with Ukraine, calling it “principled”.
“I would like to highly appreciate the position of principle of SA. I respect the openness and the responsible approach which you demonstrated based on your allegiance to the key national interest of SA and its people,” Lavrov said on Monday before meeting his SA counterpart, Naledi Pandor.
The conflict has left thousands of Ukrainians dead and millions displaced. Key infrastructure in Ukraine has been destroyed in a war that has sucked in its Nato allies.
The conflict has also negatively affected the global economy as the two countries are leading producers of grain, agricultural inputs and energy.
Ever since the conflict started, SA has refused to take sides, offering its services to mediate. President Cyril Ramaphosa in March last year said he was asked to help mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine by his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
SA was one of 35 countries that abstained from a vote condemning Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories. Despite its abstention, the UN General Assembly voted against the annexation of partially occupied territories in Ukraine, which include the Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
North Korea, Belarus, Syria, Nicaragua and Russia itself were the only countries that voted against the resolution. It was passed after 143 countries voted in favour.
SA also abstained from voting on a resolution to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council.
Last year Pandor accused the West of a bullying attitude towards Africa and said SA had different views from the US on Ukraine, China, and Israel and Palestine.
Lavrov, a key ally of Putin, placed the blame on the deteriorating situation in the conflict on the Ukrainian government. He said Ukraine did not take up calls for talks to end the conflict. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky actively opposed efforts for talks, he said.
“President Zelensky himself signed the decree prohibiting all Ukrainian officials from negotiating on anything with the Russian Federation,” said Lavrov.
“And by the end of March in Istanbul, two delegations agreed on the principles to settle this conflict. It is well known ... that our American and 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.”
As the meeting between Pandor and Lavrov progressed, Ukrainian activists demonstrated with placards not far from the offices of the department of international relations & co-operation.
Soviet Union
Pandor said SA needs to bolster the “growing economic bilateral relationship, in terms of trade and investments”.
The two countries will be building on more than two decades of official government relations, adding to several decades of co-operation between the old Soviet Union and the struggle for freedom in SA.
“The rich history of our relations, of course, dates back to the period of the struggle against apartheid, where the people of SA fought in the quest for political and economic freedom ... we fully recall the support that members of the Soviet Union provided to our country and, in particular, Russia, as a leading country in the Soviet Union.”
SA exported $410.78m of goods to Russia while importing $622m from it, according to a UN database. The Russian ministerial visit is particularly important as SA assumes the rotating chair of the Brics forum.
“Our countries continue to demonstrate the resolve to continuously work together bilaterally and in multilateral fora, such as the UN and through the Brics formation, through a strong alliance of positions on multilateral issues,” said Pandor.
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