Sergei Lavrov (L), the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, is welcomed for bilateral talks with his South African counterpart, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr. Naledi Pandor (R), in Pretoria, South Africa, 23 January 2023. Lavrov's visit to South Africa was accompanied by protests of the country's Ukrainian community calling on the South African government to cancel the talks and the ongoing co-operation with Russia. EPA-EFE/KIM LUDBROOK 
Naledi Pandor made her comments during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was visiting South Africa 11 months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A South African official, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak, said Lavrov would afterwards visit Eswatini, Botswana and Angola.
South Africa is one of Russia's most important allies on a continent divided over the invasion and Western attempts to isolate Moscow because of its military actions.
Some opposition parties and South Africa's small Ukrainian community have said that hosting Lavrov is insensitive.
Sergei Lavrov (L), the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, is welcomed for bilateral talks with his South African counterpart, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr. Naledi Pandor (R), in Pretoria, South Africa, 23 January 2023. EPA-EFE/KIM LUDBROOK
South Africa says it is impartial on the Ukraine conflict and has abstained from voting on U.N. resolutions on the war.
It has close ties with Moscow, a friend of the governing African National Congress when it was a liberation movement opposing white minority rule, and will host a joint exercise with Russia and China on its east coast from Feb. 17-27.
"All countries conduct military exercises with friends worldwide. It's the natural course of relations," Pandor, alongside Lavrov, told reporters in the capital, Pretoria.
The exercise will be under way on Feb. 24, the first anniversary of what Russia calls its "special military operation". Ukraine and its allies say Russia has launched an imperial land grab.
President Cyril Ramaphosa's government has expressed a desire to mediate in the Ukraine conflict as a neutral party.
Pandor emphasised that, though South Africa had initially called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine unilaterally, that was no longer its position.
"To repeat that ... to Mr Lavrov today would make me appear quite simplistic and infantile, given the massive transfer of arms (to Ukraine) ... and all that has occurred (since)," she said.
Neutrality
South Africa has little trade with Russia but champions a world view - favoured by China and Russia - that seeks to undo perceived U.S.-hegemony in favour of a "multipolar" world in which geopolitical power is more diffuse.
Lavrov said the military drills were transparent and that Russia, China and South Africa had provided all relevant information.
The South African armed forces said last week the exercise was a "means to strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China".
Russia's TASS news agency reported on Monday that a Russian warship armed with new generation hypersonic cruise weapons would take part in the drills.
Lavrov was visiting ahead of a Russia-Africa summit in July. There was no official public comment from the Ukrainian embassy but officials said it had asked the South African government to help push a Ukrainian peace plan.
Pandor has said South Africa will not be dragged into taking sides, and has accused the West of condemning Russia while ignoring issues such as Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.
"As South Africa, we consistently articulate that we will always stand ready to support the peaceful resolution of conflicts on the (African) continent and throughout the globe," Pandor said in earlier remarks on Monday.
By Carien Du Plessis
(Reporting by Carien Du Plessis, Anait Miridzhanian, Alexander Winning and Estelle Shirbon, Writing by Tim Cocks, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Philippa Fletcher)