Russia and South Africa vowed this week to strengthen bilateral ties and will embark on a joint military exercise next month, coinciding with the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Pretoria as part of an African tour, which will also reportedly take him to Botswana, Angola and Eswatini.
Diplomatic analysts believed that the tour primarily represented an assertion of Russia’s non-isolationist status projecting a message that despite western sanctions and efforts to ostracize it from the global stage, key strategic alliances remain in place.
Shortly after the Ukraine invasion, South Africa urged Russia to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine. Since then, however, the tone has changed. South Africa was one of the 15 nations who abstained from voting in UN General Assembly to condemn Russia’s war of aggression.
In a joint press conference alongside Lavrov, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said it would have been “simplistic and infantile” to demand Russia’s withdrawal during their meeting, and alluded to the massive transfer of arms that has since occurred from Western powers to support Ukraine’s military efforts.
Pandor also lauded the growing economic bilateral relationship between Pretoria and Moscow, along with political, economic, social, defense and security cooperation.
She emphasized the multilateral responsibilities of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and announced that South Africa will host the BRICS this year, and its ruling African National Congress (ANC) has suggested Pretoria could use the chairmanship to push for the admission of new members to expand the bloc’s presence, challenging the dominance of global superpowers.
Pandor said that the current global geopolitical tensions clearly signal the need to create institutional mechanisms that will have the stature form and global trust to promote and support global peace and security — BRICS should play a proactive role in emerging processes and ensure it is part of a redesigned global order.
Although she called for the war to be brought to a peaceful end through diplomacy and negotiations. However, there was no direct condemnation of invasion.
South Africa will host a joint naval exercise with Russia and China and Pandor hit back at concerns by arguing that hosting such operations with “friends” was part of the “natural course of relations,” criticizing the notion that only certain countries are acceptable partners. But snubbing the western democracies like this can harm South Africa and its future course of action.
