South Africa and Russia are old friends A war won’t change that.

JOHANNESBURG — While the United States and Europe pressured countries to turn their backs on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, South Africa has forged a longtime alliance with Moscow — a friendship rooted in its struggle against division. racial segregation.

Russia and South Africa, along with China, are scheduled for Friday to begin 11 days of joint exercises off the east coast of South Africa will include a Russian warships bearing the letter Z and V – Russia’s patriotic symbol of the war in Ukraine – and carry what Russia is proud to be a hypersonic missile.

In recent months, South Africa has welcomed a Russian commercial vessel, known as the Lady R, which is under US sanctions. The foreign ministers of the two countries met last month and exchanged smiles, jokes and compliments about the relationship between the two nations.

“I am really proud that we have a great diplomatic relationship with your country, which we consider a valuable partner,” Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s foreign minister, said during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Mr. Sergey V. Lavrov, in Pretoria.

At a time when many see Russia as an outcast, the Kremlin has moved in favor of South Africa, the most developed economy and influential voice on the African continent.

South Africa has a superpower ally that can help it increase its global influence. And South African officials also see an opportunity to help their country’s struggling economy by increasing trade with Russia, much like Moscow. Looking for friendly countries to do business with to bypass US and European sanctions.

Mzuvukile Maqetuka, South African Ambassador to Russia, told Russian state news agency Sputnik that countries are discussing increasing investments in oil and hydroelectric power, and starting direct commercial flights from Moscow to Cape Town.

The two countries enjoyed a warm relationship for 30 years, because the Soviet Union supported the African National Congress, or ANC – now the ruling party – in the fight against apartheid.

However, US officials have sounded the alarm, accusing South African officials of materially supporting the Russian war effort by allowing the sanctioned ship, the Lady R, to dock. They warned South Africa not to help Russia evade sanctions. The United States has a range of penalties at its disposal, from withdrawing funding or trade privileges to imposing sanctions.

Peter Stano, an EU spokesman, said in a statement: The European Union, South Africa’s largest trading partner, is also concerned that South Africa is “moving further away from a non-alignment stance”.

South Africa denies supporting Russia’s war But close scrutiny reveals the cunning diplomatic dance of a mid-sized country trying to befriend multiple superpowers without alienating any. For a week last month, the South African government hosted the US Treasury Secretary, the Russian Foreign Minister and ministers from the European Union.

“We will not choose one side at the expense of the other. Clayson Monyela, head of public diplomacy at the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Both are important.”

South Africa’s degree of Russian leaning is a test of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s strategy to position himself as the leader of a global coalition of nations pushing back against Western domination. .

Lavrov visited seven African countries this year. He chose Russia as an ally for African countries to fight “attempts to distort history and erase the memory of the terrible crimes committed by the colonists, including genocide” of the West.

Vadim Zaytsev, an expert on Russia’s Africa policy, wrote on tuesday that he saw an outdated three-part strategy in Mr. Lavrov’s presentation: exporting arms and technology; economic cooperation outside the West; and programs promoting Russian language education and humanitarian projects.

When the invasion began on 24 February last year, Ms. Pandor’s Ministry initially released statement called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. But South Africa has abandoned that stance.

South Africa is one of 35 countries – 19 from Africa – to abstain from voting at the United Nations last October to condemn Russia’s plan to hold a referendum on territory Russia claims to have occupied in eastern Ukraine. Ms. Pandor, in a press conference with Lavrov, said that Ukraine is really a threat to Russia because of all the weapons it receives from the West.

South African government officials insist that South Africa is officially “non-aligned” under the principles of Non-Aligned Movementan alliance of mostly small and medium-sized states that joined together during the Cold War.

However, a US official in South Africa said the US government believes that ammunition and rocket boosters that Russia could use in the war in Ukraine may have been loaded onto the Russian tanker Lady R when it docked in South Africa. The official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic issues, declined to provide evidence, but said the US was looking into whether to take action against South Africa.

Monyela of South Africa’s foreign ministry called the allegation false.

“Whoever makes that claim will have to give evidence because it’s very easy to allege that something happened and it would be very dangerous,” he said.

South Africa and Russia are already partners with the BRICS, an alliance they share with Brazil, India and China. The bloc, founded in 2001, has positioned itself as a competitor to Western-dominated alliances such as the G7 and as a voice for the interests of smaller and developing nations.

“You have leaders who are now listening to the African people,” rather than telling them what to do, said Lindiwe Zulu, president of international relations at the ANC. We feel like we are partners in something that is not imposed on us.

In raw dollars, South Africa’s economic relationship with Russia is dwarfed by trade with the European Union, China or the United States. But South Africa’s relationship with Russia is deeply emotional.

During the war against apartheid, the Soviet Union provided money, military training, and other support to the African National Congress, the liberation movement that became the ruling party. On the other hand, the US government considers the ANC a terrorist organization and does not officially endorse it. punish the racist regime until 1986, just a few years before the apartheid regime finally collapsed.

As Western countries condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, South African officials don’t hesitate to cite European colonial conquests in Africa and American invasions of countries including Iraq and Afghanistan. .

“Many European countries have not even apologized for what they have done to Africa,” said Khulekani Skosana, country president of international relations for the ANC Youth Federation. “Some of them continue to see us as inferior.”

Mr. Skosana was staunchly supportive of the Kremlin. He traveled to eastern Ukraine last year to act as an observer to widely condemned referendums in Russia and has government comparison of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky against the apartheid regime.

Lauren Hess, an official in Washington, said one factor that could make the governments of South Africa and other countries on the continent love Russia is Moscow’s laid-back approach, compared with the United States, which is often demanded democratic reform as a condition for aid and trade. based on foreign policy analyst from South Africa.

“People experience it like the United States giving orders to South Africa,” Ms. Hess said.

The relationship of the South African government and political leaders to Russia may not be in line with the views of the general population. Recent polls suggest that South Africans will would rather live in western countries than in Russia, and that they watched the influence of the United States about their country more positively than Russia. An analysis last year of Twitter posts in 13 African countriesAccording to the South African Institute of International Studies, most of these countries have shown apathy or negativity towards Russia.

Critics in South Africa accuse government leaders of being caught up in nostalgia. They argue that the Kremlin is using South Africa as a pawn in an international public relations maneuver to tarnish Russia’s image.

After the Russian consulate posted a photo on Twitter of a warship along the coast of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, mayor and member of South Africa’s main opposition party, reply, “Cape Town will not be complicit in Russia’s evil war.”

Detractors also dismiss the story that Russia and Putin have pure intentions in Africa, pointing out that Russia arms sales to African countries, took over mining interests across the continent and deployed mercenaries, mainly with Wagner Corporationsecurity company run by an ally of Putinin some countries.

Lindiwe Mazibuko, former leader of the Democratic Union, writes in an opinion piece in the Sunday Times. “And Vladimir Putin’s autocratic ambitions are certainly not the policy hill that any African country would be willing to die for.”

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Lynsey chutel Reporting contributed from Johannesburg and Anton Troianovski from Berlin.