Lavrov in the exercises of Pretoria, Russia, China, South Africa and Africa in February

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has arrived in South Africa to meet his counterpart, Minister Naledi Pandor, in the capital, Pretoria. South African media reported it. The Russian news agency TASS wrote that the talks are taking place in light of the second Russia-Africa summit to be held in St. Petersburg in July. Moreover, as South Africa has already announced in recent days, already next month, from February 17 to February 27, the navies of Russia, China and South Africa will conduct joint exercises in the Indian Ocean off the coast between Durban and Richard Bay. The South African government describes itself as neutral on the conflict in Ukraine and has abstained from voting on anti-Russian resolutions at the United Nations. Pandor has repeated several times, including during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit in August, that South Africa does not want to take sides. Relations between South Africa and Russia have historical roots: the Soviet Union has always supported the African National Congress, then a liberation movement against apartheid, and then a ruling party since 1994.

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