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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned today that the war between Russia and the West is no longer hybrid but “almost real”, criticizing Western nations for sending billions of pounds worth of weapons to Ukraine.
Western allies promised billions of dollars worth of weapons to Kyiv last week and Poland’s prime minister said today that his government would ask Germany to obtain permission to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, and planned to send them regardless of whether Sedan agreed.
The Kyiv government desperately wants the German-made Leopard 2 tank to break through Russian lines and recapture territory this year.
Lavrov said today that the conflict between Moscow and the West could no longer be defined as a “hybrid war”, but was closer to a real one.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned today that the war between Russia and the West is no longer hybrid but “almost real”, criticizing Western nations for sending billions of pounds worth of weapons to Ukraine.
Western allies pledged billions of dollars worth of weapons to Kyiv last week and Poland’s prime minister said today his government would ask Germany for permission to send Leopard tanks (pictured) to Ukraine, and planned to send them regardless of whether Berlin I agreed or not.
He also claimed that Moscow was willing to negotiate with Ukraine in the early months of the war, but the United States and other Western nations advised against Kyiv.
Lavrov’s comments about a visit to South Africa were similar to those made last year by Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country was in talks, but Ukraine’s Western allies prevented that from happening.
The United States and other Western nations have said Russia is not serious about negotiations to end the war, which will mark its first anniversary next month.
“It is well known that we support the proposal of the Ukrainian side to negotiate early in the special military operation, and at the end of March the two delegations agreed on the principle to resolve this conflict,” Lavrov said.
“It is well known and openly published that our American, British and some European colleagues told Ukraine that it is too early to negotiate, and the Kyiv regime never reviewed the deal that was almost agreed.”
Russia has repeatedly rejected Ukrainian and Western demands for a full withdrawal from Ukraine as a condition for any negotiations. President Joe Biden has indicated that he would be willing to talk to Putin if the Russian leader shows that he is serious about ending 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 longstanding ally amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
South Africa was seen as the most important of several African nations to take a neutral stance in the war and refuse to condemn Russia’s invasion, to the disappointment of the US and other Western partners who also view South Africa as central to their plans to build relationships. in Africa.
Lavrov met Pandor in the South African capital and is expected to visit other African countries on his trip. It is Lavrov’s second visit to Africa in the space of six months, as Russia seeks support.
Sergei Lavrov (L), the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, is welcomed for bilateral talks with his South African counterpart, Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Dr. Naledi Pandor (R), in Pretoria, South Africa, on Monday.
The war in Ukraine and its impact on Africa’s 1.3 billion people, including rising world oil and food prices, are expected to take center stage during Lavrov’s talks with Pandor.
“We are fully aware that conflict, wherever it exists in the world, has a negative impact on all of us, and as the developing world it particularly affects us as the African continent,” Pandor said. “That is why, as South Africa, we constantly articulate that we will always stand ready to support the peaceful resolution of conflicts on the continent and around the world.”
South Africa continues to maintain strong ties to Russia following the Soviet Union’s support for the country’s current ruling party, the African National Congress, when it was a liberation movement fighting to end the apartheid system of repression against South Africa’s black majority.
That relationship is largely what led South Africa to abstain from a United Nations vote last year condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Despite South Africa’s expressed neutrality on Ukraine, Lavrov’s visit comes days after the South African armed forces announced they would hold joint drills with the Russian and Chinese navies off the east coast next month.
Lavrov’s visit to Africa last year was closely followed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to South Africa, which was seen as an attempt by the US to counter growing influence Russia on a strategically important continent.
This time, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Senegal and Zambia ahead of an official visit to South Africa beginning Wednesday.
This is breaking news, more to follow…